DTU Wind Energy has released the Global Wind Atlas (GWA) version 3.0. This new version of the free and web-based application is the result of a year of work.
Vortex was commissioned by ESMAP1 to carry out 10 years of mesoscale model simulations covering the globe at 3 km resolution. These mesoscale model results were used by DTU Wind Energy to carry out microscale model calculations at a 250 m grid spacing.
To provide additional information on offshore wind resources, the calculations have been expanded up to 200 km from the shoreline. Also, two additional heights were included, so that GWA 3.0 includes wind resource data at 10, 50, 100, 150 and 200 m above ground/sea level. It is now also possible to download GIS files for all layers, for any area of interest.
DTU Wind Energy has also carried out a validation of the new GWA 3 dataset. This is an ongoing task that uses data from ESMAP-funded measurement campaigns and other public wind data. With this release, validation has been performed using data from ESMAP-funded measurement campaigns implemented by the World Bank in Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, and Zambia.
Furthermore, DTU Wind Energy and Nazka Mapps have introduced two new features. The first feature is an energy yield calculator tool, which allows users to specify a custom wind turbine to create downloadable GIS data for annual energy production, capacity factor, or full load hours. The second feature focuses on the temporal aspect of the wind resource, displaying the mean wind speed by year, month, and hour.