Offshore wind energy site assessments

A US-based firm required an historical analysis of the wind climatology of an offshore region of the US where significant wind energy development is planned. The primary goal was to quantify the frequency of low energy production periods across multiple projects. Additional objectives were to define baseline statistics for hub-height wind, air density, and energy production conditions on a monthly, seasonal, and diurnal basis. 

VerdeYu employed ERA5 and MERRA2 reanalysis datasets spanning over 30 years to derive project-specific climatological statistics as well as hourly windfarm output estimates. Comparisons with data from floating lidars provided a validation of VerdeYu’s approach.