Refined numerical simulation in wind resource assessment

A coupled model system for Wind Resource Assessment (WRA) was studied. Using a mesoscale meteorological model, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, global-scale data were downscaled to the inner nested grid scale (typically a few kilometers), and then through the coupling Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) mode, FLUENT. High-resolution results (50 m in the horizontal direction; 10 m in the vertical direction below 150 m) of the wind speed distribution data and ultimately refined wind farm information, were obtained. The refined WRF/FLUENT system was then applied to assess the wind resource over complex terrain in the northern Poyang Lake region. The results showed that the approach is viable for the assessment of wind energy.