WIND RESOURCE VARIATION BETWEEN MESOSCALE AND DOWNSCALED LINEAR WIND MODEL – COMPARISON OF SURFACE ROUGHNESS AND PROXIMITY TO BALTIC COAST

Abstract

This report analyses accuracy of wind speed predictions using wind atlases for the application of wind farm project development. The report aims to compare publicly available New European Wind Atlas (NEWA) mesoscale model data with the NEWA microscale model data. Later, NEWA microscale predictions are checked with manual WindPro WAsP calculations, which use real wind statistics. 9 locations (3 surface roughness types and 3 distances to Baltic coast) are examined. The results show three key-findings: first, the NEWA mesoscale and microscale models are most consistent in coastal open-field locations. Second, NEWA microscale model is most consistent with WindPro WAsP calculations in coastal and mid-coastal forested areas. Lastly, WindPro WAsP calculations significantly reduced wind speed estimates for in-land locations