IEM Daily Feature
Wednesday, 07 January 2009

Wind reliability

Posted: 07 Jan 2009 06:18 AM

Continuing in the series of climate features, today's plot is of the hourly frequency of an observed 10+ mph wind speed by month based on archived data from Des Moines. Those of us that live in Central and Northwest Iowa notice the many wind farms that are being built. Obviously, these turbines need reliable wind speeds to generate power. This plot indicates that outside of the afternoon hours in the spring and fall, having 10+ mph winds is roughly a 50% or lower chance on a daily basis.

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Tags:   climate   wind