Mapping offshore wind resources: synergetic potential of SAR and scatterometer data

An accurate evaluation of the wind potential is needed to assess the economic reliability of an offshore wind project and to site wind farms, which need high-spatial-resolution wind fields with high repetitiveness. A measurement campaign is highly expensive, and the in situ data obtained are insufficient: the data time series are too short, and only defined at a single location. Moreover, the wind-flow models usually used, are unable to accurately extrapolate the data from the mast over the entire area of interest. Fortunately, wind fields at sea can be measured by active spaceborne sensors, such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and scatterometer sensors. This paper aims at evaluating the adequacy of wind data from space to the data requirements of the offshore wind industry. The different types of data available from space are described. The temporal sampling of the satellite data is evaluated compared to user needs. The adequacy of this set of information for Weibull-distribution estimation is demonstrated. A study area has been selected to illustrate the approach, namely the French Gulf of Lion area.