The Met Office has introduced new functions to its renewable energy weather alert system, VisualEyesTM, vastly improving accuracy and the ability to provide a more up to date forecast picture. The enhancements are designed to offer the user more weather parameters and a greater choice of simplified display and labelling options providing an improved user experience.
Supporting small and large wind projects, the key new updates to the single platform hub are:
· New three day (72 hour) forecast option – incorporated alongside the existing time ranges.
· New parameter added for hub-height gust wind speed alerts, which is also available on pdf charts. Data is displayed to two decimal places to stay true to the plot values.
· Improved accuracy as a result of integrating the Met Office’s latest forecast improvements into VisualEyesTM and giving a more realistic spread of probabilities.
· Increased data updates – now updated four times a day at approximately 01.30, 07.30, 13.30 and 19.30 UTC giving the ability to view a more up-to-date forecast picture (up from three times). For lightning the forecast will continue to be updated hourly for the first six hours.
· A new PDF generation menu on all planning charts, with all weather parameters – including the new hub-height gust parameter – available out to 14 days (previously not available across all components of the visual hub).
· Lightning layer improvements – ability to view observed and forecast lightning via one integrated visualisation layer on the map viewer (previously two separate layers).
Michelle Spillar, Head of Renewables at the Met Office, said, “As part of our continual research and development to improve the capabilities and technology we offer, we consult with our users. The improvements to both the accuracy and the user experience of our web-based weather system are a direct result of listening to feedback from users – we want to ensure VisualEyesTM is driven by the market and that it is meeting the changing needs of wind farm operators.
“VisualEyesTM helps users view wind farm conditions more clearly, enabling them to manage health and safety risks, plan operations, reduce costs and increase revenues. In a single integrated platform, users can visualise all the weather elements that may affect their operations. The map viewer provides warnings of breaches of weather element thresholds; the alert panel enables users to see a detailed breakdown of which weather elements are triggering alerts; and planning charts generate customisable and detailed weather analysis reports and charts.”
For more information on the Met Office’s services for renewable energy, please see www.metoffice.gov.uk/renewables
