Wind Microgeneration in the UK - Wind Speed Estimation - Oh Dear, Where did the DECC tool go?

Well, when I sat down a couple of hours ago to write some pointers to information on estimating wind speeds in the UK I knew exactly what I was going to do - how wrong I was.

The idea of this post was to provide a link to a database which was used extensively a number of years ago which helped convince me to shelve the idea of installing wind-power microgeneration where I live due to the low average wind speed. Let me clarify, the tool has been used by many to provide information to help justify their own wind microgeneration systems, but for our position the figures simply didn't add-up at the time.

The tool in question was provided by DECC and used to be available at (http://tools.decc.gov.uk/en/windspeed), providing a computer model based indicative estimate of the average UK wind speed according to Ordinance Survey grid references to a resolution of 1km². Average wind speeds were provided for various heights above ground which related to potential generation tower heights of 10m, 25m and 45m. Estimates were also included for the surrounding 8 grid references which proved useful to understand the effects of major topology features.

Okay, the tool was old, not pretty, and definitely not very user friendly, but once you understood the format of the required variables (not that complex!) it worked quite well as a first-cut tool to help decide whether installing a wind turbine at a particular location was viable before investing too much effort into further research. DECC and it's successor BEIS seem to have archived what they had, totally overlooking the provision of a direct replacement, it's also oddly still referred to as a tool on a number of wind power websites - I've just checked ...

UK Wind Speed Estimate

As a holding measure, the map below is compiled by the UK Met Office, representing annual average wind speeds for the 30 year period 1961-1990, based on a grid resolution of 1km².

The chart forms part of a set of climatic maps produced by the Met Office which include annual, seasonal and monthly wind speed averages within the 30 year periods 1961-1990, 1971-2000 and 1981-2010. Information is available under the 'Averages maps' tab at - (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/climate/)

So, what does the map really say to anyone thinking about installing a wind based microgeneration system? - well, in simple terms, the higher the average wind speed the better the generation is likely to be, it's also likely that systems installed in areas with annual speeds averaging below 10 knots will see poor to marginal generation with towers of 10metres or less. it's also extremely important to note that generation on any particular site is heavily influenced by buildings, trees & local topology, therefore site wind surveys should be sought even in areas which show decent average wind speeds.