R&D Activities
WEPROG's application, the MSEPS system, requires continuous research and development in both meteorological problems as well as computer technology, as the 3D-numerical modelling of the weather is strongly dependent on the computing technology available to solve the numerical functions inside the weather models. The efficiency of the programming source code is also dependent on the processor technology and hence the solvable problem size. The larger the model areas become, the more computing capacity is required. To keep highest performance in a cost effective framework is an ongoing challenge that requires continuous testing and recoding of software to be able to make use of technology advances.
WEPROG is taking on this responsibility together with their partners and collaborators to always be at the forefront of available technology and to be able to deliver continuous improvements over time. The fact that real-time operations are practised with customers on almost all continents is challenging, but also gives a unique opportunity to identify issues and solve problems at places far away from certain target areas, which however may be affected by such problems. One example are the Rocky Mountains in Alberta that have influence on the weather development in Northern Europe. By solving wind flow issues over the Albertan part of the Rockies, not only the Canadian, but also the Danish and German customers will see improvements in forecast quality.
WEPROG also actively participates and coordinates research projects. In fact, the first project and starting point of WEPROG was the MELTRA project (2003-2006), which was funded by the Transmission System Operator for the western part of Denmark ELTRA (now Energinet.dk).
Current and recent projects, where WEPROG is involved
RAVE - Grid Integration of offshore wind farms, Germany (2008-2011)
http://www.rave-offshore.de
A project as part of the RAVE - Research at Alpha Ventus - research activities supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) in order to accelerate the offshore wind energy development at the offshore test site "alpha ventus" with the overall objective to reduce the costs of offshore wind energy deployment in deep water. The offshore wind farm alpha ventus is located 45 km north of the island Borkum in the Northsea next to the research platform "FINO 1". It will comprise twelve 5MW offshore wind turbines.
AESO Wind Power Forecasting Pilot Project , Alberta Canada (2007-2008)
http://www.aeso.ca/gridoperations/13825.html
The purpose of the pilot project was to trial different methods and vendors of wind power forecasting to determine the best approach to forecasting wind power in Alberta in the future. Three vendors were chosen with global forecasting experience
Current and recent projects coordinated by WEPROG:
DEWEPS
- Development and Evaluation of a new wind profile theory with an Ensemble Prediction System (2009-2011). A research project funded by the Danish PSO-F&U FORSKEL 2009-2012 funds coordinated by WEPROG ApS. HREnsembleHR - High resolution Ensemble at Horns Rev, Denmark (2006-2009)http://www.hrensemble.net
A research project funded by the Danish PSO-F&U FORSKEL 2006-2010 funds coordinated by WEPROG ApS, Denmark. In this project, the cosortium combines developments in ocean, weather and wind power prediction in order to produce a realistic variabilityof the wind offshore, to make use of the advantages from an ensemble of forecasts, and to study the interactions between the sea surface and the atmosphere.
Public Reports :
DEWEPS Project:
Public Report 1 (2010/01): Event Analysis of an extreme forecasting error case and discussion on optimisation of wind power integration.[Download Report] (pdf, 705kB).
Public Report 2 (2010/08): Best practises on the use of Ensemble Forecasts for wind power forecasting.
[Download Report] (pdf, 1.6MB).
HREnsemble Project:
Public Interim Report 1 (2007): Verification of WEPROG's MSEPS with data from the FINO1 platform.[Download Report] (783kB).
Public Interim Report 2 (2008): Progress report on a variability forecast approach, ocean modelli ng, and sensitivity analysis of oceanographic variables for offshore forecasting.
[Download Report] (1.06 MB).
Final Project Report (2010): A High Resolution Ensemble for Horns Rev.
[Full Text] (2.1 MB) [Executive Summary] (73 KB)