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weather stations, wind farms and
wind towers, though it is still mainly
based on measured wind speeds at a
height of 10 m. Figure 4 shows the initial
results.
Additionally, the CMA is carrying out a
series of pioneer studies on windenergy
assessment, based on various
techniques such as satellite remotesensing,
geographical information systems
and numerical simulations.
Though the wind data collected are
numerous, the distance between two
observation sites ranges from about
20 km in the east to 100 km in the
west. Furthermore, many wind data
are usually collected from sites near
cities. The places with complex terrains
with high wind-energy potential
lack observations. With rapid socioeconomic
development, the environment
around the meteorological stations
has changed greatly. It is
necessary to assess the impact of
environmental change on wind-data
homogeneity. One other limitation is
that most of the historical wind data
are observations at 10 m height,
which does not meet the requirements
for recently developed large
wind turbines.
Considering the above facts, the China
Meteorological Administration is planning
to establish an observation network,
extend its services to meet
national interests and identify the
immediate needs of end-users. Relying
on recent developments in meteorological
science and technology and
capacity building, the CMA is cooperating
with relevant organizations to
form a specialized team and take more
active measures to promote the development
of wind energy in China.
Wind Energy Assessment Centre
In order to enhance capacity-building
in support of climate-related renew-
able energy development, the CMA
has brought together experts from
various institutes and set up a specialized
Wind Energy and Solar Energy
Assessment Centre under the
National Climate Centre. This Centre
is leading CMA’s activities related to
climate resources, with the focus on
wind energy. Based on CMA’s institutional
structure, this centre of excellence
is responsible for facilitating
downstream training in relevant disciplines,
especially wind-energy assessment
models and techniques.
Future activities
Developing manuals and guidelines
In order to standardize the observation
and assessment of wind-energy development,
manuals and guidelines of
wind-energy measurement and assessment
must be developed. In China,
internationally produced manuals and
guidelines for these purposes are
reviewed on an ongoing basis and used
for the development of similar manuals
and guidelines for national needs.
Models for mesoscale wind-energy
mapping
In view of the need for mapping the
turbine height mesoscale wind climate,
the CMA is enhancing research
capacity in this field and is working
with the Meteorological Service of
Canada on developing the WEST
model (Treon and Petersen, 1989) in
China. As soon as the wind-energy
mapping system based on the numerical
model has been built, a high-resolution
wind atlas of China can be
made. The CMA then intends to set
up a national wind-energy resource
database, which will be updated regularly
and provide information for all
users.
Software for wind-farm
micro-sitting
The CMA is also working with the
Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on
introducing WAsP (Tron et al., 1989)
(Wind Atlas Analysis and Application
Program), a software tool developed
by the Danish Risø national labora-
Figure 4 — The distribution of wind-power in China (initial result of the new project)