Global: 2015 Annual Wind Trends Bulletin published

AWS Truepower, LLC, an international leader in wind and solar energy consulting and engineering services, announces the release of the 2015 Annual Wind Trends Bulletin, which provides global maps and commentary on deviations of the 2015 wind energy resource from the long-term average (defined as 1988-2014). As every 1% change in mean wind speed typically causes a 1%-2% change in energy production, such deviations, or anomalies, can have an impact on the financial performance of wind projects, as well as on the mix of other energy resources such as coal and gas consumed in a region.

The 2015 Bulletin shows that some of the world's key wind-producing areas, led by China, the United States, India, and southern Europe, experienced mildly to significantly below-normal winds in 2015. Southern India, the western United States, and southeastern China were particularly hard hit. Other wind-producing areas such as northern Europe and northeastern Brazil experienced above-normal winds. It was a notably strong year for the UK and Denmark.

New to the Wind Trends Bulletin is the Global Wind Performance Index, which tabulates the wind deviations compared to normal conditions experienced by wind plants in each country and region. The Global Wind Performance Index is designed to provide a quick and easy way to track the influence of wind resource variations on wind industry performance.

According to the Global Wind Performance Index, the wind resource experienced by plants in the United States, in the aggregate, was about 2.7% below normal. This shortfall is actually a welcome showing after a challenging first half of 2015 when much of the country experienced a severe "wind drought." The India wind industry, at 4.9% below normal, was not so fortunate. China (-0.8%) experienced on the whole a near-normal year, while Denmark's wind resource was a remarkable 6.4% above the long-run average.

"The Wind Trends Bulletin has been of great interest for wind plant owners and investors looking to interpret their projects' performance," said Michael Brower, President of AWS Truepower.  "While it has always provided a good visual indicator in the form of maps, the addition of the Global Wind Performance Index provides a quantitative measure of the impact of variations in wind resources on industry performance. We are continuing to develop new methods of delivering relevant information to the wind energy industry."

Wind plant locations and rated capacities used in the calculation of the Global Wind Performance Index are from The Wind Power (www.thewindpower.net).

The full version of the 2015 Annual Wind Trends Bulletin is available for download at http://ww2.awstruepower.com/WTB-Annual-2015.