Why APAC Offshore Wind Developers Must Rethink Wind Resource Assessment Models

December 10, 2024 Articles & PR | Market insights | Offshore 6 min read time

A Region Misaligned with Legacy Models

As the offshore wind farm market accelerates across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, developers face a critical challenge: traditional wind resource assessment methods—mainly designed for European conditions—are producing skewed results in APAC’s complex environments.

Using simplified Weibull-based models or low-resolution datasets might work in the North Sea. But in APAC, where meteorology is shaped by monsoons, typhoons, and coastal variability, this leads to serious inaccuracies in annual energy production (AEP) estimates. And that directly affects key project indicators like LCOE calculation and financial modeling in wind energy.

Youwind + Vortex: A Tailored Solution for Early Stage Screening

To address this mismatch, Youwind Renewables has partnered with Vortex to enhance the early stage screening of offshore projects. This integration brings high-resolution 10-minute Time Series data into Youwind’s platform, drastically increasing the accuracy of offshore wind resource assessment.

Developers can now generate more bankable yield assessments from the start—reducing uncertainty in AEP forecasts, de-risking investment, and improving financial modeling wind energy outcomes.

Why Legacy Models Fail in APAC

In Europe, Weibull distribution models have been reliable approximations. However, when applied to APAC’s dynamic wind systems, they often lead to under- or overestimations.

Case Study – South Korea

A recent Youwind analysis at a South Korean offshore wind site showed:

ERA5 freemium Time Series data: –4.15% net AEP deviation
Vortex premium Time Series data: +2.29% net AEP gain

These figures underline the need for regionally adapted models, especially when optimizing wind farm layout and planning investment timelines.

Platform Capabilities for Seamless Planning

The Youwind platform integrates technical and financial tools in one seamless environment, supporting wind developers throughout the entire planning process.

Early Stage Screening (formerly Pixel+) & Layout Generator & Optimizer (formerly Pixel Park)

Rapidly assess site viability with localized wind resource data and run scenario comparison for wind farms with built-in GIS constraint analysis.

Optimize wind farm layout with wake loss modeling, accounting for turbine interactions and neighbouring effects—all calibrated with high-resolution Vortex input.

Offshore Logistic Optimization & Collaborative Workflow for Wind Developers

The platform’s offshore wind farm logistic sequences optimization tool helps plan installation schedules and marine routes considering real-world constraints.

With built-in collaboration tools, Youwind ensures data-driven decisions in wind energy are made transparently across teams—bridging gaps between stakeholders, consultants, and investors.

Expertise Behind the Platform

“APAC’s wind conditions are fundamentally different from Europe’s. By giving developers access to high-resolution data from the beginning, we’re building a more sustainable and profitable industry.”
— Edvald Edvaldsson, CTO & Co-Founder, Youwind Renewables

From Data to Bankability

By embedding Vortex’s Time Series data directly into a single integrated platform, Youwind empowers developers to:

Abandon one-size-fits-all methods
Conduct bankable yield assessment with regionally calibrated inputs
Improve financial modeling in wind energy by minimizing AEP uncertainties
Make better decisions earlier with grounded, expert-backed tools

Written by Edvald Edvaldsson, Founder and CTO

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