Brief communication Spatial and temporal variation of wind power at hub height over Europe

Wind power over Europe computed from two years of the new 100 m wind product from ECMWF at 16 km horizontal resolution is 20% of maximum capacity of an exemplary wind turbine power curve. This is five percent of maximum capacity less than extrapolated from 10 m winds using model roughness in the logarithmic law, but eight percent more than multiplying 10 m winds by a constant factor of 1.28 as in a previous study. The result from the new data set happens to be very close to the actual capacity factor of 21% for European wind turbines (Boccard, 2009). The capacity factor in high power regions between 50 and 58° N and most of northernmost Africa is almost 30%. The aggregation of wind power over Europe smooths onshore day-to-day fluctuations to at most 7 percentage points during 80% of the year.