Danish firm to develop short-term wind energy forecasting tech for Australia

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), an independent agency of the Australian federal government, has awarded Vestas, a Denmark headquartered wind turbines manufacturer,  funding to develop a new short-term wind energy forecasting solution for Australia. The funding is part of ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program.

Read: Henkel employs renewable energy at US sites with Danish firm

The solution will allow ARENA to more accurately forecast energy generation from wind power plants, reduce wind generators’ dispatch uncertainty, and improve system stability by better anticipating supply from renewable sources through accurate weather forecasting. Such forecasting solutions can also benefit power plant operators’ bottom line by reducing financial penalties for inaccurate forecasts and increase revenue opportunities through making smarter, data-driven decisions about selling energy into spot markets in countries like Australia.

The solution will be developed by Vestas together with its wholly-owned energy analytics solution provider, Utopus Insights. The solution will improve upon the Australian Wind Energy Forecasting System’s (AWEFS) 5-minute forecast and will be deployed and piloted at Infigen Energy’s Lake Bonney 2 and 3 Wind Farms, two co-located wind farms in South Australia.

After the 12-month development and trial phase, Vestas  will share its learnings from the pilot with the energy industry, focusing on project challenges, learnings, forecast performance and self-forecast benefits for renewable generators and the broader market.