The impact of the spatial resolution of wind data on multi-decadal wind power forecasts in Germany

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Morelli, Sofia
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Morelli, Sofia
author_facet Morelli, Sofia
contents Accurate multi-decadal wind power predictions are crucial for sustainable energy transitions but are challenged by the coarse spatial resolution of global climate models (GCMs). This study examines the impact of spatial resolution on wind power forecasts by analyzing historical wind speed outputs from ten CMIP6 GCMs in Germany, using ERA5 reanalysis as a reference. Results show that the choice of GCM is the primary influence on wind speed output, with higher resolution models partly, but not consistently, improving predictions. While high-resolution models better capture extreme wind speeds, they do not systematically improve the prediction of the whole wind speed distribution. The data set MPI-ESM1-2-HR (MPI-HR) was found to represent the wind speed distribution particularly faithfully, while the MIROC6 (JAP) data set showed substantial underestimation for the German region compared to ERA5. These findings underscore the complexity of wind speed modeling for power predictions and emphasize the need for careful GCM selection and appropriate downscaling and bias correction methods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_14681
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The impact of the spatial resolution of wind data on multi-decadal wind power forecasts in Germany
Morelli, Sofia
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Applications
Accurate multi-decadal wind power predictions are crucial for sustainable energy transitions but are challenged by the coarse spatial resolution of global climate models (GCMs). This study examines the impact of spatial resolution on wind power forecasts by analyzing historical wind speed outputs from ten CMIP6 GCMs in Germany, using ERA5 reanalysis as a reference. Results show that the choice of GCM is the primary influence on wind speed output, with higher resolution models partly, but not consistently, improving predictions. While high-resolution models better capture extreme wind speeds, they do not systematically improve the prediction of the whole wind speed distribution. The data set MPI-ESM1-2-HR (MPI-HR) was found to represent the wind speed distribution particularly faithfully, while the MIROC6 (JAP) data set showed substantial underestimation for the German region compared to ERA5. These findings underscore the complexity of wind speed modeling for power predictions and emphasize the need for careful GCM selection and appropriate downscaling and bias correction methods.
title The impact of the spatial resolution of wind data on multi-decadal wind power forecasts in Germany
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Applications
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.14681