OVER SEA
Scatterometry
Satellites
Research Programs

OVER LAND
Doppler Radar
U.S. Radar Coverage
Research Programs

ON SITE
Mini-SODAR
Research Programs

WIND POWER
Growth in Wind Energy
Finding Strong Winds
Wind Atlases
Site Studies

Web site created by
Paul Kelly
Graduate Student
Geo Information Science
Department of Geography
Salem State College
Salem, Massachusetts, USA.

E-mail comments and suggestions to pmkelly@prodigy.net.

Last updated 4/24/2002.

 

Clockwise from upper left: NSCAT image of Pacific winds 1997, NexRAD Doppler radar, Mini-SODAR, Wind map of Dakotas, Wind farm in Minnesota

INTRODUCTION
Over the past thirty years, scientists have developed ways to see the invisible from very far away.  Remote sensing for wind, conducted both from space and from the ground, is informing early storm detection, climate change studies, and other fields.

The feasibility of large-scale production of electric power from wind has also increased dramatically in the past thirty years.  Wind turbines are larger and more efficient, meaning that power can be produced at more competitive prices.  And governments are increasingly looking to renewable resources, such as wind, to reduce carbon emissions and other pollution from burning fossil fuels.

Remote sensing technologies are just beginning to be applied to wind power planning.  But what about the future?

This web site brings together web resources on both the remote sensing of winds and the siting needs of wind power generation.  We ask whether remote sensing might eventually improve the siting of wind farms by providing cheaper, more accurate, detailed, historical and real-time information.

Data for Siting Wind Turbines
Wind power generation needs strong, consistent winds.  Lacking these, wind turbines will neither be cost-effective nor make a significant contribution to over-all electric power supply.  It is not enough to know that some place is windy.  Errors in wind projections of 5 percent can affect power generation by 10 percent (cit. www.windpower.org/en/core.htm).

Fifteen years ago, wind estimates and power generation projections depended upon anemometer data and other field observations.  For regional overviews, wind assessments and atlases were created from historical weather station data.  When evaluating a particular site, a wind power developer would erect a tall mast and take detailed wind readings on-site for a period of three months to more than a year.  Wind atlases and site studies are still needed, but beginning about five years ago, remote sensing technologies began to be applied to both steps in the siting process.

Remote Sensing for Wind
Three different remote sensing technologies are being applied to wind studies.  Over the oceans, satellite-based radar scatterometry is generating wind data of unprecedented comprehensiveness.  On land, Doppler weather radar has become the backbone of meteorology.  Weather radar detects winds as well as clouds and precipitation.  For site-specific studies, experiments are comparing mini-SODAR with traditional cup anemometers on tall masts.

In many fields, remote sensing has been able to give more complete coverage, over both time and space, than point-specific field measurements.  It appears that remote sensing is beginning to make this contribution to wind energy development as well.

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