A synthesis of observations and modeling was designed to provide improved wind power density maps for Nevada. In addition to the 65 existing Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) in Nevada, four 50m-tall meteorological towers were installed in central Nevada to capture long-term wind characteristics and provide database input for verification and improvement of modeling results. Measurements at five levels (10 meter increments) at each of the towers are collected and displayed in real time on a public web site maintained by the Western Regional Climate Center at Desert Research Institute. The measurements also include an acoustic sounder sequentially co-located with each of the towers. The obtained monthly samples will help to determine the accuracy and reliability of acoustic sounders in this type of complex terrain, and their usefulness in extending the wind profile up to 200 meters.

The modeling methodology was developed to provide wind and wind power density estimates representing mesoscale effects that include actual synoptic forcing during two full annual cycles (horizontal resolution on the order of 2 and 3 km). The modeling results using Mesoscale Model 5 (MM5) were evaluated using the RAWS and 50m tower data and applying standard and bootstrapping techniques for comparison. Two annual cycles have been simulated by MM5 using synoptic re-analysis fields as input to assess monthly, seasonal, and annual wind statistics, estimation of the optimum Weibull distribution, and to evaluate empirical formulas for extrapolating the surface winds to wind turbine hub heights. Additional tests were included to examine the value of assimilating the RAWS and tower data into MM5 using Four Dimensional Data Assimilation techniques to improve the accuracy of the wind power density estimates over areas without measurements.