physics

Global Wind Atlas

Global Wind Atlas is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Global Wind Atlas rather than just read about it. In short: The Global Wind Atlas is a web-based application developed to help policymakers and investors identify potential high-wind areas for wind power generation virtually anywhere in the world, and perform preliminary calculations. It provides free access to data on wind power density and wind speed at multiple heights using the latest historical weather data and modeling, at an output resolution of 250 meters.

Key takeaways

Global Wind Atlas belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Global Wind Atlas to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Global Wind Atlas from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Global Wind Atlas is a web-based application developed to help policymakers and investors identify potential high-wind areas for wind power generation virtually anywhere in the world, and perform preliminary calculations. It provides free access to data on wind power density and wind speed at multiple heights using the latest historical weather data and modeling, at an output resolution of 250 meters. It is owned and maintained by the Wind Energy Department of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Wind Energy) and in recent years has been developed in close partnership with the World Bank, with funding provided by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP).

History The original version of the Global Wind Atlas (GWA 1.0) was developed by DTU Wind Energy under the framework of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) and, in particular, the CEM Working Group on Solar and Wind Technologies, led by Germany, Spain and Denmark. The Technology Development and Demonstration Program of the Danish Energy Agency (EUDP 11-II, 64011-0347) funded GWA 1.0 as the Danish contribution to the objectives of the working group. GWA 1.0 was launched in 2015, and benefited from collaboration with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the MASDAR Institute. The IRENA Global Atlas of Renewable Energy created a dedicated platform to serve GWA 1.0 data to a worldwide audience. In early 2017, DTU Wind Energy entered into discussions with ESMAP at the World Bank to update and improve the Global Wind Atlas, and bring it into line with the Global Solar Atlas that was launched by the World Bank in January 2017. Utilizing funding provided under ESMAP's existing initiative on renewable energy resource assessment and mapping, the company VORTEX FDC was commissioned to carry out a global mesoscale wind energy modeling exercise at 9 km resolution. This data was provided to DTU Wind Energy for further microscale modeling, initially down to 1 km resolution. In November 2018 the Global Wind Atlas (GWA 2.0) was launched by DTU Wind Energy and the World Bank at the Wind Europe 2018 conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, based on a completely redesigned user interface developed by the company Nazka Mapps. Following further modeling work, a new version of the microscale modeling data was released in July 2018 (GWA 2.1), bringing the resolution down to 250 meters. This was followed by a further release in September 2018 (GWA 2.2) that included a number of improvements to the user interface, a new tool for preparing and downloading poster maps, and various bug fixes. The most recent release, in November 2018 (GWA 2.3) introduced three capacity factor layers, new wind roses, and improved calculation of power density, and the ability to download GIS files, among other features. The latest release of the Global Wind Atlas (3.0) was launched on October 25, 2019, featuring further methodological modeling improvements, all new raw data (based on 10 years of mesoscale time-series model simulations), data coverage spanning 200 kilometers offshore, two additional heights (data now at 10, 50, 100, 150 and 200 m above ground/sea level), as well as the introduction of the all new energy yield calculator, allowing users to a) specify a generic or custom wind turbine and b) create downloadable GIS-data for annual energy production, capacity factor, or full load hours for estimating power generation for any given point or area.

Methodology The Global Wind Atlas is based on a coupling of mesoscale to microscale modeling. The mesoscale modeling carried out by Vortex for GWA 2.0 uses ERA Interim meteorological re-analysis data provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Version 3.0 takes advantage of next generation of reanalysis ERA5 while increasing mesoscale resolution to 3km. That data is converted to generalized wind for input to the microscale models developed and run by DTU. While tools such as the Global Wind Atlas can provide useful data to support planning and initial site scoping, they are no replacement for the more detailed analysis needed when evaluating actual wind farm projects.

Outputs and usage

In addition to the data available via the Global Wind Atlas website, users may also download poster maps, GIS data, and Generalized Wind Climate (GWC) files for use in commercial wind resource assessment software such as WAsP. GIS data from the Global Wind Atlas is available via the IRENA Global Atlas for Renewable Energy, and has been included as the core wind data in the RETScreen software. It is used by governments, renewable energy developers, and academics, and has an average of 7,500 unique users per month as of October 2018. Data from the Global Wind Atlas has been used by the World Bank Group to create maps on offshore wind technical potential in a number of developing countries as part of a report on this topic published in 2019. The methodology used the 200 km of offshore wind data coverage, added a 1 km buffer zone, and then mapped any areas up to 1 km in depth with wind speeds above 7 m/s. The analysis divides the resource potential into fixed foundation and floating potential, with a cut-off of 50 m water depth for fixed. 55 regional and country maps have since been published and the analysis has been cited in a number of other publications.

See also Wind resource assessment Wind power

References

External links Global Wind Atlas Global Solar Atlas ENERGYDATA.INFO

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Global Wind Atlas

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Global Wind Atlas claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Global Wind Atlas before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Global Wind Atlas ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Global Wind Atlas

In research: Global Wind Atlas appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Global Wind Atlas in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Global Wind Atlas is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Environmental websites, Renewable energy, Wind power, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Global Wind Atlas outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Global Wind Atlas in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Global Wind Atlas means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Global Wind Atlas out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Global Wind Atlas in simple terms?

Why does Global Wind Atlas matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Global Wind Atlas?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Global Wind Atlas.