Examples of the services 3TIER Advanced Applications can offer:
Our use of numerical weather prediction (NWP) and other models is highly specialized, and 3TIER has unequalled expertise in applying these techniques to the problem of optimally locating, assessing, and forecasting wind, solar, and hydro resources—at any scale. We have developed many proprietary methodologies that further enhance the effectiveness of NWP and other models for these applications. We also add substantial value by transforming the vast amounts of data output by these models into relevant, actionable information that drives decisions about renewable energy policy, investment, and integration.
Recent projects include:
3TIER's proprietary wind modeling technologies can be applied for offshore wind resource assessment. 3TIER has created high-resolution meteorological wind resource datasets for many offshore wind projects allowing stakeholders to understand the spatial and long-term temporal variability of their offshore wind resource. 3TIER's experience in offshore assessment includes generating wind maps of offshore areas, long-term temporal analysis of the offshore resource, and project-specific power generation studies.
NWP model simulations are specifically optimized for offshore areas. 3TIER incorporates publicly available point meteorological data (buoy data, offshore platform data, etc.) to validate and correct the modeled wind resource dataset. 3TIER also incorporates satellite-derived observational wind speed data to correct for model bias at locations far offshore. Incorporating observational data sources allows 3TIER to correct for potential deficiencies in the raw model dataset and also to produce validation statistics. This additional processing results in a validated, high-quality offshore wind resource dataset that can be used with confidence.
3TIER Advanced Applications has extensive expertise in modeling and performing state-of-the-art climate change assessments. Our experience allows us to help clients analyze a variety of climate change-related concerns. Previous work includes a 2008 3TIER analysis of the effects of climate change on near surface wind speed.
Conducted on a global scale, the results of the study were published in the July 2008 issue of North American Windpower. This article provides an overview of the expected changes in wind speed values as simulated by several climate models. In addition to large, region-wide analysis, 3TIER Advanced Applications can also perform climate change assessments for specific projects.
We have also analyzed the effects of climate change on hydropower generation. Using hydrologic and reservoir system simulation models, we analyzed the impact of climate change on a variety of future power system variables including storage levels, firm yield, and energy and capacity values. This methodology can be applied to watersheds worldwide.
3TIER created the meteorological dataset for the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study (WWSIS) in the United States. This study, one of the largest and most sophisticated integration studies ever conducted, examined the operational impacts of wind and solar uncertainty and variability on utility grids, and mitigation strategies to address them.
3TIER ran a WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model to simulate wind resources over more than 4 million square kilometers in the western United States at a high spatial resolution (approximately 2 km) and fine temporal resolution (10 minutes) for a period of three years. The result is a methodologically consistent and seamless dataset, which includes all the meteorological variables necessary to calculate wind power production. Individual time-series were produced for over 30,0000 locations representing more than 900 GW of potential wind power generation. The results of the study are available here, and you can find a detailed explanation of the methodology here. This project demonstrates 3TIER's ability to simulate, process, and effectively deliver extremely complex and large meteorological datasets.
If you are unfamiliar with the technical terminology on this page, please visit our Glossary for more information.
