Global offshore wind energy resources using the new ERA-5 reanalysis
A global quantitative characterization of offshore wind power density is presented over the economic exclusive zones (EEZs), at annual and seasonal scales, based on the recently released ECMWF ERA-5 reanalysis. Compared to its predecessors, ERA-5 features increased spatial and temporal resolutions,...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ec438486f96c4d3f8dd5353d7c841a06 2023-09-05T13:17:39+02:00 Global offshore wind energy resources using the new ERA-5 reanalysis Pedro M M Soares Daniela C A Lima Miguel Nogueira 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb10d https://doaj.org/article/ec438486f96c4d3f8dd5353d7c841a06 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb10d https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abb10d 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/ec438486f96c4d3f8dd5353d7c841a06 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 15, Iss 10, p 1040a2 (2020) renewable energies global offshore wind energy coastal areas ERA-5 Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb10d 2023-08-13T00:37:16Z A global quantitative characterization of offshore wind power density is presented over the economic exclusive zones (EEZs), at annual and seasonal scales, based on the recently released ECMWF ERA-5 reanalysis. Compared to its predecessors, ERA-5 features increased spatial and temporal resolutions, along with improved model parameterizations and data assimilation methodologies. Consequently, the present study represents an updated benchmark of wind resources over the global oceans. Further robustness to this argument is provided by our results showing that of the EEZs with large wind energy potential are characterized by regional-scale circulation features (coastal jets and breezes, land-sea and topographic circulations), known require high model resolution to be accurately simulated. Additionally, it is demonstrated that larger errors (up to 50%) can result from estimating wind power density from logarithmically extrapolated near-surface wind speed when compared to using high-resolution model level information. Coarser (daily) temporal resolution is also found to cause widespread increases in offshore wind power density errors between 10% and 30% compared to higher (hourly) resolution data. Further leveraging on the high vertical resolution of ERA-5, we show the large benefit of future increases in hub-heights from 100 m to 250 m for global offshore wind resources. Such technological advance results in widespread gains (ranging between +5% and +50%) throughout the global EEZs and no losses for all seasons. Moreover, the gains are >+10% for all regions with large wind energy potential at 100 m and >+40% over the Arctic Pacific sector and in regions characterized by the presence of coastal low-level jets. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Pacific Environmental Research Letters 15 10 1040a2 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
renewable energies global offshore wind energy coastal areas ERA-5 Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
renewable energies global offshore wind energy coastal areas ERA-5 Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Pedro M M Soares Daniela C A Lima Miguel Nogueira Global offshore wind energy resources using the new ERA-5 reanalysis |
topic_facet |
renewable energies global offshore wind energy coastal areas ERA-5 Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
A global quantitative characterization of offshore wind power density is presented over the economic exclusive zones (EEZs), at annual and seasonal scales, based on the recently released ECMWF ERA-5 reanalysis. Compared to its predecessors, ERA-5 features increased spatial and temporal resolutions, along with improved model parameterizations and data assimilation methodologies. Consequently, the present study represents an updated benchmark of wind resources over the global oceans. Further robustness to this argument is provided by our results showing that of the EEZs with large wind energy potential are characterized by regional-scale circulation features (coastal jets and breezes, land-sea and topographic circulations), known require high model resolution to be accurately simulated. Additionally, it is demonstrated that larger errors (up to 50%) can result from estimating wind power density from logarithmically extrapolated near-surface wind speed when compared to using high-resolution model level information. Coarser (daily) temporal resolution is also found to cause widespread increases in offshore wind power density errors between 10% and 30% compared to higher (hourly) resolution data. Further leveraging on the high vertical resolution of ERA-5, we show the large benefit of future increases in hub-heights from 100 m to 250 m for global offshore wind resources. Such technological advance results in widespread gains (ranging between +5% and +50%) throughout the global EEZs and no losses for all seasons. Moreover, the gains are >+10% for all regions with large wind energy potential at 100 m and >+40% over the Arctic Pacific sector and in regions characterized by the presence of coastal low-level jets. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pedro M M Soares Daniela C A Lima Miguel Nogueira |
author_facet |
Pedro M M Soares Daniela C A Lima Miguel Nogueira |
author_sort |
Pedro M M Soares |
title |
Global offshore wind energy resources using the new ERA-5 reanalysis |
title_short |
Global offshore wind energy resources using the new ERA-5 reanalysis |
title_full |
Global offshore wind energy resources using the new ERA-5 reanalysis |
title_fullStr |
Global offshore wind energy resources using the new ERA-5 reanalysis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Global offshore wind energy resources using the new ERA-5 reanalysis |
title_sort |
global offshore wind energy resources using the new era-5 reanalysis |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb10d https://doaj.org/article/ec438486f96c4d3f8dd5353d7c841a06 |
geographic |
Arctic Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Pacific |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 15, Iss 10, p 1040a2 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb10d https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abb10d 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/ec438486f96c4d3f8dd5353d7c841a06 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abb10d |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
1040a2 |
_version_ |
1776198745519554560 |