US geospatial services outfit MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates EarthSat is expanding overseas and is now offering wind generation forecasts for the UK, Ireland and Germany. The company already provides hourly forecasts for ERCOT, MISO, BPA and others in North America and said it “is pleased to accommodate those with interests in European wind generation”.
The web-based system uses “state-of-the-art ensemble forecast methods” to predict hourly forecasts for lead times of up to 10 days.
MDA said in the short-term forecast its statistical techniques will learn from wind data and power variations to develop “highly accurate predictive relationships” between the present and future conditions.
The company added in the day-ahead and longer term forecasts its ensemble method removes model biases, it also weights models according to their skill, “greatly improving forecast skill over any single model technique”.
MDA EarthSat chief scientist Daniel Kirk-Davidoff said: “Our wind generation forecast has proven its skill in a wide variety of settings, from the hills of Texas, to the plains of Iowa and the mountain valleys of California and Oregon. We are excited to apply the lessons learned here to the work of forecasting wind generation from Spain to the North Sea.”
