Albany, NY – AWS Truepower, LLC, an international leader in renewable energy consulting and information services, today debuted its windTrends Bulletin, the first report in a new quarterly series from the company that features maps and analysis of windTrends across the U.S. The inaugural report reviews nationwide wind patterns from the first quarter of 2010, showing that shifts in circulation patterns in both the Pacific and North Atlantic regions played a significant role in below average wind speeds in the continental U.S.
“Using our elite windTrends dataset, we can conduct a comprehensive look back at historical data across North America to spot wind trends and determine anomalies in the weather,” said Bruce Bailey, President and CEO at AWS Truepower. “Having an accurate, up-to-date view of wind speeds, patterns and fluctuations is critical for wind power project stakeholders as they evaluate the performance of their generation portfolios and the underlying causes of deviations from expectations.”
The windTrends Bulletin “hind cast” provides wind farm owners, investors and financiers with detailed maps that clearly display wind anomalies and climatic fluctuations, caused by El Niño and other climate patterns, and explain where and how they impact specific U.S. geographies. AWS Truepower reports that during the first quarter of 2010, a large portion of the continental U.S. experienced below-normal wind speeds.
“This past quarter had a noticeable impact on the wind climate for the 12 months ending March 31, 2010,” said Michael Brower, Chief Technical Officer at AWS Truepower. “The northern and southern plains, northern Rockies, and entire Midwest experienced below-normal winds, while much of the southeastern United States was above average. This one-year period is sharply different than the previous year ending March 31, 2009 or Q1 2009, when more than 80-percent of the U.S. experienced above average wind speeds.”
Data for this analysis came from AWS Truepower’s windTrends product, a database of weather conditions for the conterminous U.S., northern Mexico, southern Canada and India dating back to 1997. windTrends provides a weather snapshot at multiple heights above ground for every hour. For more information on windTrends please contact info@awstruepower.com.