Validation of Global Wind Atlas for India

Abstract

Identification of wind potential sites is the preliminary work in the wind farm development process. This has been initially achieved with the support of wind atlases. The validation of wind atlas based on ground measurements is an essential work to enhance confidence on their usage. The latest version of Global Wind Atlas (GWA) has been introduced in November 2019 which indicates the wind potential across the globe at a node spacing of 250m. In this paper, Annual Average Wind Speed and Wind Power Density validation of GWA in offshore, onshore and Islands sites have been carried out for India based on the ground based measurements. This paper very first informs the quality check carried out on the atlas and secondly the validation of it based on the field measurement data. Based on the analysis, the GWA annual average wind speed predictions in offshore and onshore homogeneous sites are found to be within the defined uncertainty band of measured wind speeds. The GWA wind speed correlation in offshore sites is found to be better than other sites. However, in Complex and North Eastern states, the GWA wind speed in more than 50% of sites is falling out of the uncertainty band of measured wind speed. In Islands, the GWA underestimates the annual average wind speed in Lakshadweep and overestimates in Andaman & Nicobar.