The Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project: Overview and Connection to the PSL Columbia Gorge Integrated Project​

Jim Wilczak

Tuesday, Apr 05, 2016, 2:00 pm
DSRC Room 2A-305

Abstract

The second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP2) is a DOE and NOAA funded public-private partnership whose goal is to improve NWP model forecast skill for turbine-height winds in regions with complex terrain. WFIP2 partners include DOE National Laboratories (PNNL, ANL, NREL, LLNL), NOAA Laboratories (ESRL, ARL), Vaisala Inc., NCAR, the University of Notre Dame and University of Colorado, and the Bonneville Power Administration. A core element of WFIP2 is an 18 month field deployment located in the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the Columbia River Gorge and Columbia Basin in eastern Oregon and Washington states, with the field project having begun in October 2015. The approach taken is to collect an extensive set of new meteorological observations especially within the atmospheric boundary layer (from radar wind proflers, sodars, lidars, microwave radiometers, microbarometers, radiation, surface met), use these to observe and understand relevant atmospheric processes, develop and test new model physical parameterization schemes, and ultimately transfer these improved models to NOAA/NWS operations and to the wider meteorological and wind energy communities. An overview of recent trends in weather-dependent renewable energy generation in the U.S will be given, followed by a description of WFIP2 and several case study events, ending with a brief outline of a PSL Integrated Project titled “Improve Understanding of Moist Processes in the Pacific Northwest” that is leveraging WFIP2 resources to investigate extreme precipitation events in the Pacific Northwest.