Evaluation of ERA-Interim and NCEP-CFSR Reanalysis Datasets against in-situ Measured Wind Speed Data for Keti Bandar Port, Pakistan

Abstract

The evaluation and comparison of reanalysis datasets (NCEP-CFSR and ERA-Interim) against mast measured wind data for Keti-bander port of Pakistan have been performed. In the last decade, wind farms have been developed on the land, but there is still need for the development of offshore wind farms on the 1100 km coast of Pakistan. The wind data measured at the Keti Bandar Port of Pakistan at different heights for the duration of 20 months has been used in this study. The evaluations of satellite datasets against measured data were done based on statistical analysis, monthly mean time series and Weibull probability distribution function. The wind data at 30 m, 60 m and 85 m was extrapolated using the Logarithmic law from 10 m height. At 30 m height both satellite datasets show very good agreement with measured data, the predictions of CFSR data are much better than ERA-Interim. The percentage difference for mean wind speed, wind power density and Weibull parameters at 30 m are less than 5%. Overall NCEP-CFSR gave better results compared to ERA-Interim. These results may be used for the offshore wind resource assessment for Pakistan due to unavailability of offshore wind speed data.