End-to-end solutions for wind energy industry

20 October 2009

As the importance of wind generation to the global energy industry continues to grow, the Met Office has developed a new suite of services to provide an end-to-end solution for the wind energy industry.

Wind energy services include site selection and analysis, operations and maintenance planning, wind power prediction, offshore services and asset optimisation.

The Met Office has worked with top industry experts to develop VisualEyes™ – a web-based system to manage site conditions for onshore and offshore wind farms. VisualEyes™ is being developed with Scottish Power Renewables and will be installed at Whitelee, Europe’s largest wind farm. It will be used to help manage maintenance schedules, operational risks and monitoring weather condition, such as the risk of lightning and strong winds.

Through using both weather and climate information from the Met Office, the renewables industry will be able to improve site selection, lower exploration costs, maximise operational efficiency, and give more accurate power output forecast to optimise both short- and medium-term trading opportunities.

Rob Harrison, Principal Renewables Consultant at the Met Office, said: “To ensure that the wind industry can meet the challenges involved in wind-farm planning, development and operations, it is essential that they have access to accurate information and expert advice to take critical investment and management decisions.

“The Met Office is best positioned to understand the issues faced by both wind-farm operators and investors. We are leading the way in how weather forecast information is delivered with our new product VisualEyes™”.

Notes

• Wind has been the world’s fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, a trend expected to continue. Wind power now provides nearly 4 gigawatts (GW) of the UK’s electricity, with another 16 GW at different stages of development. Last year the UK overtook Denmark as the largest offshore wind energy generator, and within five years wind is set to overtake UK nuclear energy in terms of generating capacity. With the UK committing to provide 15% of all its energy supplies from renewable sources by 2020, 35-40% of our electricity will have to be generated by renewables, 25 GW of which will come from wind.
• The Met Office is exhibiting at BWEA31 - the UK’s premier renewable energy event - being held at Liverpool’s Echo Arena between 20 and 22 October. Visit us on Stand 59 to find out more about our wind energy consultancy services.