Resource assessment
Track Chair: Jos Beurskens, ECN Wind Energy, The Netherlands
The wind energy resource is primarily determined by the wind speed. There are still countless areas in the world where there might be promising wind resources available, but these are as yet undiscovered. Discovering these areas is essential to future market expansion. Besides wind speeds, other atmospheric parameters need to be known and understood in order to design reliable wind turbine systems. These parameters include turbulence levels, air density, temperature, terrain features, water depth, wave heights and seabed morphology. Many of these parameters are also relevant for transport, installation, operation and maintenance activities.
The wind resource is not static. On land it is influenced by structures in the surroundings and offshore the resource can be significantly affected by the proximity of very large wind farms. Such factors need to be continually explored and new analytical methods employed to evaluate their impact. Precise mapping and analysis of the wind resource is of utmost importance for wind turbine manufacturers, wind farm designers and project developers, as it might make the difference between an economically feasible project or a loss-generating one. Determining the resource in a larger area is of general interest for the wind energy community and is a costly, time-consuming activity. Innovative measuring techniques are being introduced to make these processes more accurate and efficient. Contrary to the previous activities, which can be characterised as long term forecasting, there is need for short term forecasting. The results are important inputs for balancing the supply of wind energy and the demand for electricity. Advances in all those areas will be presented in this track, divided into six topical sessions.
Sessions in this track:
- Wind resource variations;
- Resources offshore;
- Short term forecasting: can we do better than guess?
- Advances in measuring techniques for resource assessment;
- Resources in challenging areas;
- Resource assessment, siting and spatial planning;
- Workshop: Planners meet physicists.
For more details of all sessions, view the online programme
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