Met Office, WindSim Partner for Better Wind Energy Forecasting

The Met Office and WindSim AS have announced a new partnership with the objective of generating more accurate Wind Resource Assessments and Wind Power forecasts to meet increasing industry demand for improved short term power forecasting and longer term power yield analysis.

Accurate short term power forecasts are becoming increasingly important as balancing costs are increasing in many countries in Europe and also with energy traders seeking improved precision to support market trading. The penalties for poor forecasting are increasing in many countries – both in Europe and across the globe – necessitating the need for a more sophisticated approach. Similarly, as wind developments are forced into more marginal onshore locations and also further offshore, stakeholders are demanding higher confidence in long term power yield predictions in order to support critical site selection and development decisions as well as to attract investments into new projects across the world.

Site-specific Power Forecasts will be produced by WindSim AS using Computational Fluid Dynamic technology based on the Met Office’s site-specific Wind Production Forecast(TM) product. The joint objective of the partnership is to establish potentially higher economic benefits from WindSim’s CFD model.

Stephen Norman, Renewable Energy Consultant from Met Office said: “It is evident that in future our customers are going to require more accurate data and reliable forecasting services to be able to successfully develop, generate and trade wind energy and we are excited about the potential benefits that can be delivered through this strategic collaboration with WindSim.”

John Olaf Romma, CEO at WindSim AS added: “WindSim and Met Office are a clear fit. Our common goal is to help our customers make the best decisions possible when they design and operate wind farms by delivering solutions that use the latest advances in technologies”.