The OWA has launched an Invitation to Tender for companies, academics and consortia to assess the accuracy of various sources of wind resource data in locations where extensive validation has not been carried out.

While the OWA Partners are already familiar with the quality and accuracy of wind resource data in the traditional offshore wind markets (e.g. the North Sea and the Baltic), the same cannot be said for emerging markets. The purpose of this project is to build confidence in reanalysis data and mesoscale models in these emerging markets, and assess the uncertainties associated with their use.

Several of the OWA Partners have started to collect wind data (predominantly floating LiDAR) in emerging markets. This provides an opportunity to validate reanalysis data and mesoscale models in these emerging markets. Specifically, the project aims to validate:

• Global reanalysis datasets (e.g. ERA5, MERRA-2, JRA-55)
• Any publicly-available local reanalysis datasets
• Commercially-available mesoscale model / Virtual Met Mast data

Validation is to be conducted by comparing to OWA Partners’ proprietary wind measurements, predominantly from floating LiDARs, and any similar publicly-available datasets. Validation will be performed on both a time-series and statistical basis. Where possible, trends will be extracted to attempt to understand how the uncertainty of the datasets varies with key variables, e.g. continent, distance from shore, distance from nearest long-term reference station etc.

Because of the sensitive nature of these measurements, the project shall be conducted in accordance with a Data Management and Confidentiality Arrangements plan, which is included with this ITT.

The deadline for clarification questions is 11 April.

The closing date to receive tender submissions is 2 May at 2pm.

All clarification questions and tender submissions should be sent electronically, by their respective deadlines to neil.adams@carbontrust.com.