Utility-Scale Land-Based 80-Meter Wind Maps
The U.S. Department of Energy provides an 80-meter (m) height, high-resolution wind resource map for the United States with links to state wind maps. States, utilities, and wind energy developers use utility-scale wind resource maps to locate and quantify the wind resource, identifying potentially windy sites within a fairly large region and determining a potential site's economic and technical viability.
About the 80-Meter Wind Resource Maps
The U.S. map shows the predicted mean annual wind speeds at an 80-m height, presented at a spatial resolution of 2.5 kilometers that is interpolated to a finer scale. Areas with annual average wind speeds around 6.5 meters per second and greater at an 80-m height are generally considered to have a wind resource suitable for wind development. Utility-scale, land-based wind turbines are typically installed between 80 and 100 m high.
In early 2010, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) completed a preliminary review and validation of AWS Truepower's 80-m height map estimates for 19 selected states (six Western states, six Midwestern states, and seven Eastern states) based on tower measurements at heights of about 50 m and above from more than 300 locations. The results of the validation showed that for most regions of the United States the wind resource estimates were well within 10%, which confirms that these wind resource maps are a valuable tool for wind energy prospecting.
More Information
Estimates of the wind resource potential that would be possible from development of the available windy land areas (after excluding areas unlikely to be developed) are provided in tables and charts.
Before you plan to install your own wind turbine or wind farm, you must know if the wind resource in your location is adequate. From wind resource maps, you can determine if your area of interest should be further explored. Wind resource at a micro level can vary significantly; therefore, you should get a professional evaluation of your specific area of interest.
New Wind Resource Maps and Wind Potential Estimates for the United States
News Release, February 19, 2010
Updated State Wind Resource Estimates Webinar
February 26, 2010
Poster: 80 and 100 Meter Wind Energy Resource Potential for the United States
Presented at the WINDPOWER 2010 Conference & Exhibition, 23-26 May 2010, Dallas, Texas.
Wind Resource Maps Postcard
This postcard is a marketing piece that stakeholders can provide to interested parties; it will guide them to here Wind Powering America's online wind energy resource maps.