Pragmatic Wind Modeling

Intelligent selection of wind models for complex terrain in Germany and Switzerland

One of the first steps in predicting the performance of a wind farm is to model the winds around the site. There are many models available to do this; some are available as services, and others are intended as research tools. They can resolve different physical processes and run at different spatial and temporal resolutions. Each choice about model setup and resolution that is made impacts the cost of running that model – and the accuracy of the output.

So, which models are the best? How can we judge the cost-benefit of a range of models? And which factors influence the outcomes?

These questions form the core research in two aligned German and Swiss research projects. The project partners will be running several different models and assessing the accuracy against data from the WindForS WINSENT facility and several other sites in Germany and Switzerland.

Results are expected throughout 2019 and 2020.

The project is led and coordinated by researchers in Switzerland and Germany:

Professor Dr. Hermann Knaus at HS Esslingen.
Dr. Sarah Barber at HS Rapperswil.

News

Pragmatic Wind Modeling: Aligning Research in Germany and Switzerland (23/04/2019)
Computer models allow us to estimate the winds across wind energy plants before and after construction. They are vital tools for wind farm design and operation, but are expensive to run and have a significant learning curve. And accuracy can vary quite a bit, too. So how do you choose the right model? How do you find the ...