Wind Resource: Model Overview

Wind Resource: Model Overview#

Note

Please refer to the Setting Environment Variables doc page for information on setting up an NREL API key if you haven't yet.

Wind Resource: Output Data#

Wind resource models may output wind resource data, site information, information about the data source, and time information. This information is outputted as a dictionary. The following sections detail the naming convention for the dictionary keys, standardized units, and descriptions of all the output data that may be output from a wind resource model.

Note

Not all wind resource models will output all the data keys listed below. Please check the documentation for each wind resource model and wind performance model to ensure compatibility.

Primary Data: Wind Resource Timeseries#

The below variables are outputted as arrays, with a length equal to the simulation duration. In the variables listed below, <height> is used to indicate the height (in meters) above the ground for the resource parameter. <height> should be 0 for surface level wind resource data. The naming convention and standardized units of wind resource variables are listed below:

  • wind_direction_<height>m: wind direction in degrees (units are 'deg')

  • wind_speed_<height>m: wind speed in meters per second (units are 'm/s')

  • temperature_<height>m: air temperature in Celsius (units are 'C')

  • pressure_<height>m: air pressure in atm (units are 'atm')

  • precipitation_rate_<height>m: precipitation rate in millimeters per hour (units are 'mm/h')

  • relative_humidity_<height>: relative humidity represented as a percentage (units are 'percent')

Additional Data: Site Information#

  • site_id (int): site id

  • site_tz (int | float): local timezone for the site

  • site_lat (float): latitude of the site

  • site_lon (float): longitude of the site

  • elevation (float | int): elevation of the site in meters

Additional Data: Data source#

  • data_tz (int | float): timezone the data is in represented as an hour offset from UTC

  • filepath (str): filepath where the resource data was loaded from

Additional Data: Time profile#

Time data may be outputted as arrays to represent the time profile of the resource data. These times should be represented in the timezone of data_tz (if outputted).

  • year: year as 4-digit value (i.e., 2019)

  • month: month of year (1-12)

  • day: day of month (1-31)

  • hour: hour of day from a 24-hour clock (0-23)

  • minute: minute of hour (0-59)

Contents