The generation of wind energy depends to a significant extent on the changing weather conditions causing the yield from wind energy plants and farms to fluctuate every year. Onshore plants in Germany have been using indexes to compare the achieved wind farm output against the expected output. These indexes help operators to identify and remedy the causes of performance losses and thus increase profitability.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) has released an Offshore Wind Energy Index (FRONIX), the first wind index for offshore wind farms in the German Bight in the North Sea. The index will provide an opportunity to estimate the inter-annual power density variation at offshore wind farm sites.
FRONIX will be useful to estimate the inter-annual power density variation at offshore wind farm sites. It reveals the percentage deviation of the average wind power density during one year compared to the average wind power density of the past 5 and 10 years. As such, it allows wind farm operators and owners as well as grid operators to assess their wind farms’ power output in comparison with the long-term average and to identify the causes of power losses.