Ups and Downs: Q3 wind resources vary around the globe
January 23, 2012 by Paul Dvorak
Filed under Business issues, Weather forecasting, Wind Power News
The wind anomalies are for North America. Blues indicates below normal and oranges, above.
A renewable energy consulting and information services firm released its quarterly analytical Wind Trends Bulletins. Each report independently reviews wind-resource performance in North America, Europe, and India based on AWS Truepower’s long-term simulated wind resource data set. A few highlights of the findings include:
North America – Near or above-normal wind speeds were exhibited throughout much of North America with the largest deviations throughout much of the Rocky Mountains and Southern Great Plains.
Europe – Western Europe enjoyed above-average winds while Eastern Europe suffered.
India –Northern and far Eastern India experienced below-normal to well below-normal wind speeds. Much of Southeastern India observed above-average speeds.
The colors indicate the wind variations from average in India. Yellow and orange indicate greater than average wind speeds.
AWS Truepower assesses portfolios of pre and post-construction assets that take into consideration long-term and annual fluctuations in wind resource to gauge portfolio risk. Its Wind Trends Bulletin provides wind plant owners, investors and operators with a high-level analysis of wind resource performance influenced by climatic fluctuations. This aids in identifying potential issues with plant underperformance.
“Wind resource is a key consideration in long-term energy assessment,” said Michael Brower, Chief Technical Officer at AWS Truepower. “Project developers, owners, and investors must consider the long term as well as annual deviations when setting expectations for project portfolio performance.” Expect annual deviations in wind resource. A strategy to mitigate the risk of major portfolio underperformance is essential to hedging against the annual variability of wind, added Brower. “When assessing a portfolio of projects for development, investment or acquisition, it is essential to have a holistic view of the portfolio to ensure a reliable quarterly cash flow.”
Download each regional report online. For:
North America: www.awstruepower.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/AWST-wT-Anomaly-Bulletin_Q32011_NorthAmerica.pdf
Europe: www.awstruepower.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/AWST-wT-Anomaly-Bulletin_Q32011_Europe.pdf
India: www.awstruepower.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/AWST-wT-Anomaly-Bulletin_Q32011_India.pdf
AWS Truepower
www.awstruepower.com
Windpower Engineering Editor Paul Dvorak is an experienced mechanical engineer. Paul has seven years of hands on mechanical engineering experience and 23 years of technical writing. Paul is constantly in correspondence with wind turbine manufacturers and wind power researchers. Thanks to this correspondence, he is able to write about wind engineering topics before any other editor in the wind space.
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