InnoWind will progress the assessment of wind energy resources beyond the state-of-the-art by pushing the application of Copernicus satellite data and products into aerodynamic flow models. Copernicus Global and pan-European products, describing vegetation properties such as forest type and density, will be used in combination with digital elevation models to derive the surface drag force. This new approach could eliminate current indirect and subjective assessment of surface properties and reduce the uncertainty on the wind resource. Further, it could lead to more accurate, automatic and consistent assessments at different sites.
InnoWind will quantify the effect of using satellite-based input layers for flow modeling at the meso- and microscale through a series of trial cases at global sites, where ground truth observations are available and wind turbines are planned or in operation. Forest sites will be particularly in focus because they have the strongest impact on the wind flow and represent 75% of new land based wind energy developments. The chain of models for resource assessment will be adapted to utilize novel satellite-based input layers. Both the data layers and the updated flow models will be commercialized as part of InnoWind.