Eoltech has released the findings of its latest study aimed at assessing global wind resource variations over the last 15 years.
The company says its data show that worldwide wind power production is very predictable, with annual variations within a 3% range. These results are based on the IREC index, the wind energy index covering 80% of the world’s onshore wind farms installed as of last year. The company releases its findings each month for 300 geographical areas worldwide with the highest number of farms.
By aggregating and weighting this data, the company generated a “Global” and “European” index. The Global Index covers geographical areas which host about 80% of the world’s operating onshore wind farms, while the European Index covers 97% of the continent’s operating wind farms. The European Index shows that wind resource annual variations are within a 7% range in Europe.
“Operating wind farms experience a large diversity of wind regimes, which cause on a local scale significant resource variability from one year to another,” says Eoltech CEO Habib Leseney.
“Locally, the production of a wind farm can differ significantly from one year to another, up to 25%, due to the variation of the wind resource. But on a larger scale, cumulated production is much more stable. It should also be noted that our analysis does not show any downward trend over the last 15 years in the global wind resource. Yes, the wind does always blow somewhere on the planet, and it is good news for wind power going forward.”
