US-based scientists develop global extreme wind speed atlas to help wind energy sector

5th February 2021

By: Rebecca Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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Scientists at Cornell University’s Cornell Atkinson Centre for Sustainability, in Ithaca in New York state in the US, have developed a new, digital, global wind atlas. Entitled “A Global Assessment of Extreme Wind Speeds for Wind Energy Applications”, it was unveiled in a paper published in the journal Nature Energy on January 25. It is the first geospatially explicit (that is, its datasets are connected with locations), uniform and publicly available source of information on extreme wind speeds.

“Cost-efficient expansion of the wind-energy industry is enabled by access to this newly released digital atlas of the extreme wind conditions under which wind turbines will operate at locations around the world,” pointed out Cornell Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Professor Sara Pryor. “This kind of information will ensure the correct selection of wind turbines for specific deployment and help ensure cost-efficient and dependable electricity generation from those turbines.”

Pryor co-authored the Nature Energy paper with Cornell School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Rebecca Barthelmie. In it, they noted that wind turbines were producing electricity in more than 90 countries. China accounted for 36% of current global installed wind energy capacity, Europe for 31% and the US for 17%.

Worldwide, at the end of 2019, the total installed wind turbine capacity exceeded 651 GW, of which almost 90% was onshore. “Thus, wind is now generating over 1 700 TWh of electricity per year or about 7.5% of the global electricity supply,” reported Pryor.

Their research was carried out in response to the needs of the wind energy sector. Knowledge of the extreme wind speeds to be found at a specific location was essential for the proper design and construction of the wind turbines to be installed at that location. This would ensure cost-effectiveness. Previously, lack of information had meant that, at many wind turbine sites, extreme wind-load estimates had been uncertain.

“Further cost-efficient expansion of the wind-energy industry will be enabled by access to this newly released digital atlas,” affirmed Pryor. Barthelmie noted that the data could also be useful for civil engineers undertaking structural reliability analyses for a wide range of projects, such as electricity generation and distribution, transport systems (including long-span bridges) and tall buildings. 

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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