A global atlas of extreme wind speeds for wind energy applications

Here we present a global, homogenized and geospatially explicit digital atlas of the sustained fifty-year return period wind speed (U₅₀) and associated confidence intervals based on ERA5 reanalysis output at 100 m a.g.l.. Four different approaches are used to derive U₅₀ estimates using 40 years of hourly disjunct 20-minute sustained wind speeds. All rely on use of the Gumbel distribution to fit extreme wind speeds but differ in how the distribution parameters are derived. Resulting values of U₅₀ are compared to reference wind speeds U_ref derived using five times the mean wind speed as specified in the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) wind turbine design standards. An observationally derived dataset used in evaluation of the atlas is also included, along with a MATLAB script used in deriving the U₅₀ estimates.

Associated publication is: Pryor S.C. and Barthelmie R.J. (2021): A global assessment of extreme wind speeds for wind energy applications. Nature Energy DOI: 10.1038/s41560-020-00773-7