The Clean Energy Solutions Center, in partnership with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), hosted this webinar on Assessing Wind Energy Potential with the New Global Wind Atlas. The webinar provided an overview, a demonstration and technical information about the newly released Global Wind Atlas—a new data set and suite of tools available via the IRENA Global Atlas platform that provides freely available very high-resolution worldwide wind data for the first time. Prior to the release of the Global Wind Atlas, wind data were only available at 10-kilometer resolution, which resulted in underestimations, increased risk and increased costs for wind energy developers. The Global Wind Atlas provides wind resource data at one-kilometer resolution. It was developed using microscale modelling to capture small scale wind variability, allowing for better estimates of the aggregated wind resources. Users can view maps showing wind speeds at three different heights, overlay the data with any of the existing data sets in the IRENA Global Atlas, and use the Global Wind Atlas toolset to directly download data as well as generate statistics such as wind roses and wind speed distributions over a chosen area. These capabilities can be used by anyone from policymakers to developers, and they support growth of wind energy development worldwide by providing much-needed technical data for all geographical areas in a user-friendly, easily accessible tool. Webinar participants learned how to use the new data set and tools and understand how the data set was developed. Panelists' presentations were followed by an interactive question and answer session with the audience.
The introduction to the webinar is available here.
A transcript of the webinar is available here.
Webinar Content and Panelists
DR. NICOLAS FICHAUX, Programme Officer for Knowledge, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
Dr. Nicolas Fichaux graduated with a PhD in offshore wind energy in 2003. He then worked with the French Agency for Energy and Environment as an research and development (R&D) officer. He joined the European Wind Industry association in 2007 as Secretary General of the European Wind Energy Technology Platform and Head of Policy Analysis. Since 2011, he has worked as a Programme Officer for Knowledge at the International Renewable Energy Agency, in particular on the Global Atlas for Renewable Energy, and REsource – IRENA’s renewable energy knowledge platform.
"The Global Wind Atlas: The New Worldwide Microscale Wind Resource Assessment Data and Tools"
JAKE BADGER, Senior Researcher, DTU Wind Energy
Jake Badger has carried out R&D within numerical wind resource assessment methodologies for over 14 years. He has been principle modeler in more than 15 international wind resource study projects. He is expert in application of the mesoscale modelling output (numerical wind atlas data) in microscale models (including WAsP) for site specific verification and feasibility studies. His research goals include improving accuracy of resource assessment, obtaining reliable uncertainty estimation and modelling wake effects and applying satellite derived winds in resource assessment systems.
"Assessing Wind Energy Potential with the New Global Wind Atlas"
ABDULMALIK ALI, Associate Programme Officer, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
Abdulmalik Ali is an Associate Programme Officer at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) where he supports the development of an internet based Global Atlas for Renewable Energy, which is the world's largest globally accessible geographic information product dedicated to promoting prospective areas for renewable energy development all over the world. Abdulmalik has extensive experience in IT implementation, with notable positions held in IT support with leading IT services companies in Nigeria. These include NetServeAfrica, where he supported the development and implementation of mobile messaging solutions for transaction alerts in financial institutions across Nigeria and Firston Technologies Ltd where he supported the implementation of local money transfer solutions in the country. He is a PMI-certified Project Management Professional and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theoretical Physics.