The service, called Wind Production Forecast Plus, provides energy generators, traders, consultants and grid operators with an accurate weather forecast to feed into their own power models, to help them predict how much energy will be generated from wind farm assets.

It has been designed for assessing energy production at onshore and offshore wind farm locations, and uses site observations, combined with the Met Office’s Unified Model, surface data and high resolution site-specific modelling to produce half-hourly predictions up to six days ahead.

Head of renewables at the Met Office, Rob Harrison, said: “With sophisticated lagging and blending techniques and the addition of Kalman filtered site observations, our new forecast option gives operators increased confidence in their power estimations, minimising the risk of having to generate or buy energy from elsewhere, or facing penalty charges as a result of incorrect estimations of wind energy production.”

Head of forecasting at energy supplier SSE, Mo Rezvani, said: “Recent comparisons have shown it to be the most accurate of those that we receive. Highly accurate weather forecasts are a critical part of predicting power output at our sites.”

The Wind Production Forecast Plus is an upgrade to the Met Office’s original service and the new version allows the use of wind speed observations from the site to further increase forecast accuracy and the addition of a ‘nowcast’.

Last week (Sep 7), NatWest and the Met Office announced that they are working together to provide accurate wind speed data for investors of potential renewable projects.

The data will be aimed at farmers and landowners seeking financial support through NatWest’s renewable energy fund.

Leigh Stringer

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe