NYSERDA Wind Resource Assessment Handbook

The wind resource assessment campaign represents one of the most important phases in the development of utility-scale wind farms. The energy production estimates that are generated based upon the results of the wind measurement campaign are essential in determining the feasibility of a proposed wind farm project. This handbook presents industry-accepted guidelines for planning and conducting a wind resource assessment program. Included is a comprehensive overview of the wind monitoring process, which involves the siting, installation, and operation of a meteorological towers, as well as advanced remote sensing technologies. Recommended best practices for the subsequent data collection and validation are provided. Advancing beyond the initial wind monitoring and data collection phases, a detailed discussion of the analytical methods involved with estimating a site’s wind energy potential is presented. These analyses include extrapolating observed wind measurements to hub height, adjusting the measured data to the long-term historical norm, wind flow modeling, and the assessing the uncertainty associated with resulting energy production estimates. This handbook will provide the assessor with detailed understanding of the wind resource assessment process, as well as the analyses involved with the estimating wind farm energy production.