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Trends in the extreme wind speeds in the period 1871-2008 based on reanalysis

Trends in the annual 95th percentile of daily maximum wind speeds in the 20th century reanalysis data set (ensemble mean) during the period 1871–2008. The trend is given in the units of the interannual standard deviation and plotted only when significant. The coloured circles indicate trends in the number of 'gale days' (an index that represents the number of extremely windy days) over the period at the specific locations.

Projected relative change of annual maximum daily mean wind speed between 1961-2000 and 2050 using different models

Data are calculated for 10 m height using the + 2 oC scenario for 2050 (IPCC-SRES A1B emission scenarios) and the reference climate (1961-2000) from three similar models (left) and one different model, MIROCHi (right).

Recorded track of the medicane occurring in January 2014

Medicane track from a high-resolution simulation of January 2014.

Footprint of storm Xaver in December 2013

The storm footprint is defined by considering the highest 3 seconds wind gust (in m/s) during a 72 hours period . Data are obtained from the Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS).

Projected changes in extreme wind speed based on GCM and RCM ensembles

Ensemble mean of changes in extreme wind speed (defined as the 98th percentile of daily maximum wind speed) for A1B (2071–2100) relative to 1961–2000. Left: based on 9 GCMs. Right: based on 11 RCMs. Coloured areas indicate the magnitude of change (unit: m/s), statistical significance above 0.95 is shown by black dots.

Europe's onshore and offshore wind energy potential

This report provides a Europe-wide resource assessment of onshore and offshore wind potential in a geographically explicit manner. In addition to calculating raw wind resource potential, this study also introduces and quantitatively analyses the environmental and social constraints on wind sector development. Concerns addressed include the noise and visual impact of wind power, as well as the deaths of birds and bats that fly into rotor blades. The report also evaluates the future costs of wind energy production across Europe in order to gauge the potential output at competitive rates.