The latest release of the Global Wind Atlas contains all new data about wind resources around the world. As such, the Global Wind Atlas continues to help policymakers, planners and investors identify global, national, regional and local high-wind areas for wind power generation – and the atlas again confirms the immense global potential of the wind resource.
DTU Wind Energy has today 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 and it represents a major upgrade.
In GWA 3.0, the wind resources have been calculated even more accurately, using the best available methods and input data. Vortex was commissioned by ESMAP 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 high-quality 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 in the user interface of GWA 3.0. 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. Users can e.g. combine this information with similar temporal data on solar resources available under the Global Solar Atlas, to identify areas where wind and solar complement each other seasonally or during a typical day.
GWA 3.0 is developed, owned and operated by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). DTU wishes to thank all organizations and individuals involved in the development of the GWA 3.0, including those not listed above, who have provided important input data, advice, review, and feedback. In particular, DTU would like to acknowledge the funding provided by ESMAP for development of GWA 3.0, as well as advice and review provided by staff and consultants from the World Bank.
For a more complete list of new features: https://globalwindatlas.info/about/ReleaseNotes.
