A two-site correlation model for wind speed, direction and energy estimates

A two-site wind correlation model was first modified and then tested on lon g-term data from five pairs of Canadian weather stations. The stations were chosen to cover a variety of topographic situations and surface cover type s. A preliminary analysis of data from each of the 10 stations concluded th at an absolute minimum of 12 months of monitoring is needed to estimate the long-term wind speed distribution. Increasing this short-term monitoring p eriod to 24 months causes noticeable improvements; thereafter, the improvem ent is more gradual. It was also found that a short-term monitoring period between 12 and 24 months might produce worse estimates than for a 12-month period. For the two-site tests, one station from each of the five pairs was designated as a reference station; the other was designated as a tai get s tation, It was found that the model results derived from 1 yr of short-term simultaneous monitoring at the two stations and long-term data at the refe rence station outperform the estimates based solely on 2 yr of monitoring a t the target station. The model results are further improved by using 2 yr of short-term monitoring. The conclusions from this study have implications for wind energy and air pollution studies where long-term estimates of the wind speed and direction distribution are needed and must be based on a re latively short-term period of monitoring. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al l rights reserved.