On May 27, 2009, Michael Brower, Chief Technical Officer at AWS Truewind, discussed the value of wind power forecasting with the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA). Dr. Brower’s presentation outlined the state-of-the-art in wind forecasting technology and provided an overview of the value minute-ahead, hour-ahead, day-ahead, and month-ahead forecasts can provide to the utility-scale market. The Hindu Business Line, an Indian e-newspaper, published some highlights from the workshop:

Dr.  Michael Brower said that wind forecasting, though tougher than weather forecasting, has evolved to provide significant cost-benefit to the wind energy sector. It has become the norm among the world leaders in wind energy in the US and Europe. Wind forecasting addresses a key issue in wind energy generation – ‘infirm’ power. The uncertainty in wind conditions means wind power generators and utilities cannot plan on availability of wind energy in long-term planning. But with scientific forecasting wind farms and the power utilities can now plan the availability (The Hindu Business Line).

AWS Truewind currently supports 55 percent of the United States’ wind power with its eWind® forecasting system providing forecasts for over 14,000 MW of installed capacity. The company’s team of PhD atmospheric scientists is backed by a cluster of 150 processors used to analyze massive amounts of regional weather observations and turn it into a reliable, accurate forecast. These forecasts enable grid managers to use wind power as a predictable source to fuel electricity demand.

The presentation for IWTMA is one of many steps AWS Truewind is taking to establish a strong report with its Indian clientele. The firm also opened an office in Bangalore on May 15th and  launched wind resource maps of the country in 2008 on its wind prospecting and analysis application windNavigator®.

For more information on AWS Truewind’s forecasting capabilities click here. To view wind maps of India, explore windNavigator.