Date: 7/24/2014

On July 24, the Southeastern Coastal Wind Coalition (SECWC) convened key stakeholders for a working session to discuss wind energy resource assessment and data collection in the Southeast. Approximately 50 experts from industry, national labs, and universities gathered to explore wind energy resource assessment efforts related to coastal and offshore wind in the region, identifying existing data gaps and opportunities for future collaboration.

The estimated wind energy potential in the southeastern states has increased with recent technological advancements for turbines in areas with lower wind speeds. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimates that increasing tower heights from 96 meters to 110 meters would make an additional 300,000 square kilometers of land viable for potential wind development, with much of that land located in the Southeast. The Southeast also has an enormous potential for offshore wind, with 63% of the shallow water resource on the East Coast concentrated in waters from Virginia to Georgia.

Representatives from NREL, AWS Truepower, Renewable NRG Systems, Southern Company, and the Savannah River National Laboratory provided presentations to the group. The afternoon roundtable discussion, which included all attendees, assessed progress in the region and generated ideas for future efforts. Key take-away items included the need for a prioritized list of data needs for the land-based and offshore wind industries in the region and the need for an inventory of assets (datasets and data collection tools) in the region.

To begin to quantify the level of activity in the region and to help facilitate connections for future collaborative efforts, SECWC compiled a comprehensive summary of all relevant research efforts underway in the Southeast. These efforts are being conducted by academic institutions, government entities, and the private sector, and include topics such as ocean-atmospheric modeling, data collection from met-towers and buoys, hurricane modeling, and many more.

Attendees also discussed the possibility of a regional meteorological measurement campaign involving a variety of stakeholders. The goal would be to leverage existing assets to install meteorological measurement equipment and gather data on land and offshore to inform the wind industry as it grows in the region. In the coming months, the potential for this regional concept will be explored by SECWC, the SECWC-led Southeast Wind Energy Resource Center, and its partners.

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