Introduction

Used in terrains having low, smooth hills of small to moderate dimensions with sufficiently gentle slopes for areas of flow separation to be insignificant, WAsP has been shown to be reliable and accurate. It has been used extensively to develop the European Wind Atlas and similar assessments of the wind energy resources in a number of other countries. It is therefore recommended that the proper use of WAsP is confined to this type of terrain.

But WAsP is increasingly used for situations that do not belong to its recommended operational envelope. In particular, the program is often used for the investigation of potential sites in rugged and complex terrain, which are also subject to intense solar radiation or stratified atmospheric conditions. It is therefore important to be aware of the likely errors of WAsP predictions under these extreme conditions and that some form of correction can be made if necessary.

We have to explore the operational limits of WAsP models and be able to estimate the accuracy of WAsP predictions for sites in complex terrain subjected to particular climatic and topographic conditions. The main points of this page are:

1. A better understanding of prediction errors
   • Improvement of our understanding of the WAsP prediction error due to orography.
   • Identification of the significant parameters and how they affect the total prediction error.
2. A better prediction tools
   • Quantification of the orographic limits of the WAsP operating envelope for accurate results.
   • Provision of the means for correction of predictions when WAsP is used outside its operating envelope.
   
3.  Further development
   • Provision of a better understanding of the physical process to enable the future improvement of the program.
   
   

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