Global Wind Atlas 4 – Validation: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Maldives, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Zambia

The present document is prepared by the Department of Wind and Energy Systems at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Wind and Energy Systems).

The purpose of the work is to provide a validation of the fourth Global Wind Atlas dataset (GWA4). This is an ongoing task that uses data from ESMAP1-funded measurement campaigns and other public high-quality wind data.

This document presents a validation of GWA4 using data from 52 wind measurements in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Maldives, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Zambia.

The validation of GWA4 is based on the Wind Atlas methodology and the Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program (WAsP). The procedure for the validation is described in Section 3, and detailed results are included in Section 4 as well as in the appendices.

Main results re. mean wind speeds
Based on the validation results for 52 wind measurements in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Maldives, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Zambia:
• The average bias of the 52 mean wind speeds is 0% (±14% STDEV)
• The average absolute bias of the 52 mean wind speeds is 11% (±9% STDEV)

Main results re. mean wind power densities
Based on the validation results for 52 wind measurements in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Maldives, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Zambia:
• The average bias of the 52 mean wind power densities is 11% (±51% STDEV)
• The average absolute bias of the 52 mean wind power densities is 36% (±38% STDEV)