Additional Resources
Wind Prospector
A web-based GIS applications designed to support resource assessment and data exploration associated with wind development.
Wind Data
The available datasets are 50-meter hub height state-level and regional coverages. Please note that a 50-meter height national coverage is not available. We do not have high resolution land-based data for Alabama, Florida, Louisiana or Mississippi. If you have questions, please contact the Geospatial Data Science Team.
State and national wind resource data at various hub heights and spatial resolutions for both land-based and offshore data including the data used in the maps located at the WINDExchange and U.S. DOE EERE websites can be purchased from AWS TruePower.
Wind data is also available from other commercial sources such as 3Tier. Note: Listing other commercial companies does not imply endorsement by NREL.
50-meter height above ground/surface
These datasets are geographic shapefiles generated from the original raster data. The original raster data varied in resolution from 200-meter to 1000-meter cell sizes. The data provide an estimate of annual average wind resource for specific states or regions. The data are separated into two distinct groups: NREL produced, and AWS Truepower produced/NREL validated. To learn more, please see Wind Data Details.
The NREL-produced map data only applies to areas of low surface roughness (i.e. grassy plains), and excludes areas with slopes greater than 20%. For areas of high surface roughness (i.e. forests), the values shown may need to be reduced by one or more power classes. The TrueWind-produced resource estimates factor in surface roughness in their calculations, and do not exclude areas with slopes greater than 20%. These data were produced in cooperation with U.S. Department of Energy's WINDExchange program, and have been validated by NREL and other wind energy meteorological consultants. To download state wind resource maps, visit the WINDExchange Web site.
Geographic coordinate system name: GCS_WGS_1984
For these datasets, we've included the option to view the data in Google Earth. To launch this capability, click on the kmz link in the KMZ Files field. Other KMZ links are available through our MapSearch Tool.
Coverage | Zipped Shapefiles | Last Updated | Metadata | KMZ Files |
---|---|---|---|---|
Alaska Wind 50m height | (Zip 187.3 MB) | 04/25/2012 | Alaska.htm | AK 50m.kmz |
Arizona Wind 50m height | (Zip 14.3 MB) | 03/09/2009 | Arizona.htm | AZ 50m.kmz |
Arkansas Wind 50m height | (Zip 2.3 MB) | 05/18/2012 | Arkansas.htm | AR 50m.kmz |
California Wind 50m height | (Zip 29.2 MB) | 05/18/2012 | California.htm | CA 50m.kmz |
Colorado Wind 50m height | (Zip 16.2 MB) | 02/25/2009 | Colorado.htm | CO 50m.kmz |
Connecticut Wind 50m height | (Zip 1.1 MB) | 03/02/2009 | Connecticut.htm | CT 50m.kmz |
Georgia Wind 50m height | (Zip 1.4 MB) | 05/11/2012 | Georgia.htm | GA 50m.kmz |
Hawaii Wind 50m height | (Zip 2.0 MB) | 05/04/2009 | Hawaii.htm | HI 50m.kmz |
Illinois Wind 50m height | (Zip 790 KB) | 02/05/2009 | Illinois.htm | IL 50m.kmz |
Indiana Wind 50m height | (Zip 2.7 MB) | 03/02/2009 | Indiana.htm | IN 50m.kmz |
Iowa Wind 50m height | (Zip 2.2 MB) | 05/21/2012 | Iowa.htm | IA 50m.kmz |
Kansas Wind 50m height | (Zip 11.5 MB) | 11/23/2009 | Kansas.htm | KS 50m.kmz |
Kentucky Wind 50m height | (Zip 1.8 MB) | 02/25/2009 | Kentucky.htm | KY 50m.kmz |
Maine Wind 50m height | (Zip 6.4 MB) | 03/02/2009 | Maine.htm | ME 50m.kmz |
Massachusetts Wind 50m height | (Zip 2.6 MB) | 03/02/2009 | Massachusetts.htm | MA 50m.kmz |
Michigan Wind 50m height | (Zip 11.6 MB) | 03/02/2009 | Michigan.htm | MI 50m.kmz |
Mid-Atlantic Regional Wind 50m height (includes Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia) |
(Zip 17.5 MB) | 05/21/2012 | Mid Atlantic Regional.htm | Mid Atlantic 50m.kmz |
Minnesota Wind 50m height | (Zip 1.3 MB) | 06/26/2012 | Minnesota.htm | MN 50m.kmz |
Missouri Wind 50m height | (Zip 9.8 MB) | 03/02/2009 | Missouri.htm | MO 50m.kmz |
Nebraska Wind 50m height | (Zip 18.3 MB) | 02/23/2009 | Nebraska.htm | NE 50m.kmz |
Nevada Wind 50m height | (Zip 16.7 MB) | 05/18/2012 | Nevada.htm | NV 50m.kmz |
New England Regional Wind 50m height (includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) | (Zip 3.2 MB) | 09/30/2010 | New England Regional.htm | NE Regional 50m.kmz |
New Hampshire Wind 50m height | (Zip 2.2 MB) | 03/02/2009 | New Hampshire.htm | NH 50m.kmz |
New Mexico Wind 50m height | (Zip 24.6 MB) | 05/18/2012 | New Mexico.htm | NM 50m.kmz |
New York Wind 50m height | (Zip 3.3 MB) | 05/22/2012 | New York.htm | NY 50m.kmz |
North and South Dakota Wind 50m height | (Zip 2.3 MB) | 03/17/2009 | North and South Dakota.htm | ND and SD 50m.kmz |
Ohio Wind 50m height | (Zip 3.2 MB) | 03/02/2009 | Ohio.htm | OH 50m.kmz |
Oklahoma Wind 50m height | (Zip 11.0 MB) | 06/04/2009 | Oklahoma.htm | OK 50m.kmz |
Pacific Northwest Regional Wind 50m height (includes Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming) | (Zip 53.7 MB) | 06/11/2012 | Pacific Northwest Regional.htm | PNW 50m.kmz |
Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands Wind 50m height | (Zip 117 KB) | 04/01/2009 | Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.htm | PR and VI 50m.kmz |
Rhode Island Wind 50m height | (Zip 623 KB) | 02/20/2009 | Rhode Island.htm | RI 50m.kmz |
South Carolina Wind 50m height | (Zip 1.5 MB) | 05/18/2012 | South Carolina.htm | SC 50m.kmz |
Tennessee Wind 50m height | (Zip 321 KB) | 03/02/2009 | Tennessee.htm | TN 50m.kmz |
Texas Wind 50m height | (Zip 321 KB) | 06/22/2012 | Texas.xml | TX 50m.kmz |
Utah Wind 50m height | (Zip 16.4 MB) | 05/18/2012 | Utah.htm | UT 50m.kmz |
Vermont Wind 50m height | (Zip 2.2 MB) | 05/18/2012 | Vermont.htm | VT 50m.kmz |
Wisconsin Wind 50m height | (Zip 3.5 MB) | 06/26/2012 | Wisconsin.xml | WI 50m.kmz |
United States Wind Power Class - no exclusions | (Zip 22,771 KB) | 08/20/2015 | — | — |
United States Wind Power Class - with exclusions | (Zip 74,225 KB) | 08/20/2015 | — | — |
50-Meter Legend
Sample graphic to use for 50-m wind maps (JPG 46.5 KB)
90-Meter Offshore (90-meter height above surface)
Annual average offshore wind speed at a 90-meter height. To learn more, please see Offshore Wind Report (2010).
Geographic coordinate system name: GCS_WGS_1984
For these five datasets, we've included the option to view the data in Google Earth. To launch this capability, click on the kmz link in the KMZ Files field. Other KMZ links are available through our MapSearch Tool.
Coverage | Zipped Shapefiles | Last Updated | Metadata | KMZ Files |
---|---|---|---|---|
Atlantic Coast 90m Windspeed Offshore Wind | (Zip 19.7. MB) | 06/26/2012 | Atlantic Coast.htm | Atlantic Coast 90m.kmz |
Great Lakes 90m Windspeed Offshore Wind | (Zip 11.8 MB) | 08/23/2010 | Great Lakes.htm | Great Lakes 90m.kmz |
Gulf of Mexico 90m Windspeed Offshore Wind | (Zip 4.8 MB) | 08/23/2010 | Gulf of Mexico.htm | Gulf of Mexico 90m.kmz |
Hawaii 90m Windspeed Offshore Wind | (Zip 4.2 MB) | 08/23/2010 | Hawaii.htm | Hawaii 90m.kmz |
Pacific Coast 90m Windspeed Offshore Wind | (Zip 9.4 MB) | 08/23/2010 | Pacific Coast.htm | Pacific Coast 90m.kmz |
Note - These zipped shapefile datasets are designed to be used in GIS software applications.
Western Wind Dataset
The Western Wind Dataset provides energy professionals with a consistent set of wind profiles across the western United States. This dataset provides 10-minute time-series wind data for 2004, 2005 and 2006. More than 30,000 data points are available across the western United States.
Eastern Wind Dataset
The Eastern Wind Dataset provides energy professionals with a consistent set of wind profiles for the eastern United States. This dataset provides 10-minute time-series wind data for 2004, 2005, and 2006. More than 1,326 simulated wind farms data points are available across the eastern United States.
NREL's National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) tower data
The NWTC tower data site provides links to live graphical displays and wind data from the tower located at the NWTC.
More Information
For more information on wind resources, access the resource maps page on the Wind Resource Assessment site.
For additional wind resource data, access Renewable Resource Data Center (RReDC) and the Wind Resource Data.
If you have difficulty accessing this data because of a disability, please contact the Geospatial Data Science Team.