Norway: Wind Farm Developers Use Virtual Wind Measurement

Since early 2003, StormGeo has been running nested, limited area numerical weather prediction (NWP) models to gain real-time weather prediction and for studying historical periods.

The company have extensive practice in using weather models to produce high-horizontal resolution hindcasts; historical weather forecasts, ranging from 1 to 10 km and having entire hourly time series – from 1979 until today.

 Wind Farm Developers

By reproducing site specific weather they are able to create Virtual Wind Measurements providing all sorts of information about the wind conditions and potential for energy production and more. As such, they are able to assess quickly and accurately how much wind farm developers can rely on the wind asset over a long term and whether or not this can generate enough electricity to meet the expected return on investment.

 Accurate, quick and cost effective Assessment

The Virtual Wind Measurement can be an important tool early in development phase. Potentially it can save both time and cost by presenting a site”s potential before the big investments are made. The output from such a measurement normally includes a long-term mean wind speed with an associate level of certainty, turbulence and shear information, a short-term maximum gust statistics are presented and a wind map of the project site or even surrounding area if required. Further, real data and site measurement like met masts, lidars, off shore rigs and sodars can also be found in combination with the virtual measurement to compare and verify the results.

StormGeo has evaluated over 100 wind farm parks both on- and offshore in North of Europe. Data accuracy is extensively being verified by their science team as well as their customers in a continuous process.

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Offshore WIND staff, March 29, 2012; Image: StormGeo