Emerging challenges in wind energy forecasting for Australia

Growing concern about climate change has led to significant interest in renewable energy resources such as wind energy. However, such non-storable energy sources present a significant issue - how to maintain continuity of supply in the event of possible disturbances to power production. For example, in the case of wind energy, such disturbances can result from extreme weather events due to frontal systems or rapidly evolving low pressure systems. Such events cannot be avoided, but if they can be accurately forecast, their impact can be minimized by ensuring that alternative sources are available to make up any power shortfalls. Thus as wind energy makes up an ever greater component of our energy supply, there is greater interest in developing models to produce accurate, local scale, wind-focused forecasts for wind farm sites that push the boundaries of current weather prediction techniques. In this article we present a case study focusing on the Woolnorth wind farm on the northwest tip of Tasmania, to highlight some of the key challenges that will be involved in developing such forecasts.