There is no shortage of online sites with instructions about how to get started with wind turbine siting. A very thorough source is energy.gov. The information is limited to the US and it's coasts but provides the basic information one needs to get started. On the Site Selection page you can learn more about the type of the information provided by OpenWind.
The number one rule of putting up a turbine is understanding the wind conditions at your site.
The best way to do this is to do a wind measurement campaign at your site. If you search for information regarding wind measurements, you will find lots of commercial offerings. This is the best method to get information regarding wind conditions for your site, but that involves time, commitment and expense. The standard campaign is one year and ideally uses a measurement tower of the same height as your proposed turbine.
A less expensive way to get started is to find existing local information. The site information should be as close as possible to your potential site. Information is available for most countries at various resolutions, but the data is normally raw data; wind measurements and wind direction time histories. This data is usually provided without the anlaysis necessary to make it usable to non professionals. And that is what we provide.
Openwinddata uses the high quality verified raw data from nearby sites from the Deutscher WetterDienst and uses industry standard methods to determine the viability of producing wind energy at a given site.
Does it makes sense to install a wind turbine at a given site?
This is not a simple question. The two most important factors are the wind conditions and the type of turbine. Wind measurements are used to calculate the potential yield of a wind turbine at a site and that is what our data analysis on this site provides.
For turbine data we use a few representative turbine models to provide values for easy comparisons. The turbines are provided to put some useful units to the results, like kWh. These are the units used in the measurement and sale of electricity universally. So you can compare results for various turbine sizes with the same information you can find on your electricity bill.
We provide preliminary data for free. Find your nearest location and which includes helpful explanations for interpreting data visualization and assessing your site. This is the basic look at a site using very rough data. It is not data to be used to make decisions, but can be used to determine if the site could be interesting.
When you want to know more about your site, we provide a more thorough analysis using higher fidelity measurements. Higher fidelity means more accurate measurement data and more accurate analysis predictions. A detailed report resembles the structure of the preliminary report, but with additional report elements and more precise data. We generate this analysis as a service upon request. Contact us for more information.
Report Types:
| Report Type | Data and Explanation | |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Measured | A full analysis of the measurement data for a site using the DWD hourly data (low resolution) to provide a basic assessment. Enough to get started. Uses measurement data from any of the DWD stations chosen. | |
| High Resolution Measured | The higher resolution data with the 10 minute frequency used by the wind industry is used to provide a thorough report of the site and provide an accurate estimate of the potential for producing wind energy. Enough information to make decisions. Uses measurement data from any of the DWD stations chosen. | |
| Estimated Local Report | The DWD has also estimated values for every square kilometer of Germany from the TRY Project This is not measurement data but an estimate based on computational fluid dynamics using nearby sites and the terrain (among other factors). The values here are the best estimates but can be used to determine the potential for a more thorough analysis of the site. Uses calculated data from any area of Germany. |