Data and Modeling Needs for Offshore Wind Energy

The offshore wind energy community is identifying needs and strategies for expansion of meteorological and oceanographic (met-ocean) data required to support studies of the U.S. wind resource and conditions relevant to wind farm development and operation in offshore locations. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) in collaboration with many other organizations has identified Offshore Wind Energy as an Annual Partnership Topic and established a Committee that is bringing stakeholders to focus on data and modeling needs. The areas being addressed include types of data that impact offshore wind energy such as wind, wave, and current, and including non-restricted public access to other relevant meteorological parameters. This presentation will update the community on progress of the AMS APT and solicit input to their report. The core sections of the report will include an overview of offshore wind energy opportunities & challenges in the US, the role of met-ocean data in addressing project planning, design & operations, sources of existing measured and modeled data, and data gaps and strategies to address them.