WIND RESOURSE ASSESMNT

All markets for wind turbines require an estimate of how much wind energy is available at potential development sites. Correct estimation of the energy available in the wind can make or break the economics of wind farm development. Wind maps developed in the late '70s and early '80s provided reasonable estimates of areas in which good wind resources could be found. But new tools and new data available from satellites and new sensing devices now allow researchers to create even more accurate and detailed wind maps of the world.
Wind mapping techniques developed by the National Renewable Energy Lab ("NREL") and U.S. companies are being used to produce high-resolution projections of U.S. and foreign regions that are painting a whole new picture of wind potential. These maps are created using highly accurate GPS mapping tools and a vast array of satellite, weather balloon, and meteorological tower data, combined with much-improved numerical computer models. The higher horizontal resolution of these maps (1 km or finer) allows for more accurate wind turbine siting and has also led to the recognition of higher-class winds in areas where none were thought to exist.
The ability to accurately predict when the wind will blow will help remove barriers to wind energy development by allowing wind-power-generating facilities to commit to power purchases in advance. NREL researchers work with federal, state, and private organizations to validate the nation's wind resources and support advances in wind forecasting techniques and dissemination. Wind resource validation is important for both wind resource assessment and the integration of wind farms into an energy grid. Validating new, high-resolution wind resource maps will provide an accurate reading of the wind resource at a particular site. Development of short-term (1 to 4 hours) forecasting tools will help energy producers proceed with new wind farm projects and avoid the penalties they must pay if they do not meet their hourly generation targets. In addition, validating new high-resolution wind resource maps will give people interested in developing wind energy projects greater confidence as to the level of wind resource for a particular site.