Presentations

Abstract

The Global Wind Atlas (GWA) is a free, web-based application developed to help policymakers, planners, and investors identify high-wind areas for wind power generation virtually anywhere in the world and then perform preliminary calculations. The GWA facilitates online queries and provides freely downloadable datasets based on the latest input data and modelling methodologies. The new GWA 4.0 has been completed and made available on the GWA website https://globalwindatlas.info/, and this new version contains all new data about wind resources around the world, based on the best available methods and input data. GWA 4.0 features a completely new microscale modelling step, using the latest version of PyWAsP to calculate a Predicted Wind Climate every 250 m within all the world’s country boundaries including offshore Exclusive Economic Zones. This is greater coverage than in previous versions. The updated microscale modelling with PyWAsP uses updated air density data, and new stability and geostrophic wind shear data (derived from ERA5). To utilize the new data the new geostrophic wind shear model (as implemented in WAsP 12.1), and the new stability model (as implemented in WAsP 12.8 onwards) were incorporated into the calculation.  Furthermore, the updated microscale modelling introduces the use of tree height data (derived from Global Sentinel-2 10m Canopy Height (ETH, Zurich)), which are applied in the new displacement height model (implemented in WAsP 12.7 onwards), as well as a new generalization method (based on a “histogram” method). All calculations use new elevation data (derived from Copernicus DEM30) and new roughness data (derived from WorldCover). The validation which has been presented on the GWA website has also been updated for 35 sites in Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Zambia, demonstrating the improved accuracy of the fourth GWA dataset. Furthermore, another set of 142 wind measurement masts’ data covering other geographies and climates has been used for validation.  This presentation will include highlights of the science used in updated methods in the GWA 4.0 microscale modelling.