As part of the Energy Systems Integration Group Fall Technical Workshop, Vibrant Clean Energy, Pattern Energy, Catalyst Cooperative, and GridLab recently released the Resource Adequacy Renewable Energy (RARE) Power Dataset, which provides an open-source solar and wind dataset for power systems planners helping to fill a void in the modeling world.
“The availability of public and quality high-resolution renewable datasets is one of the most important requirements for planning a reliable clean power system,” said Debra Lew, ESIG executive director. “Pattern Energy is filling an important void by making this data set available and addressing an important need for modeling high renewable future power systems.”
With support from GridLab, Catalyst Cooperative will host and distribute the renewable energy dataset. The data includes hourly solar, onshore, and offshore wind production published at a county granularity by aggregating 3 kilometer data for the contiguous U.S. The first release contains data for 2019-2023, while a further release in Q1 2025 will contain data for 2014-2018.
The foundation for this dataset are weather variables produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s high-resolution rapid refresh operational numerical weather prediction model. The approach has been used to inform real-world processes, such as developing a dataset for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator in 2020.
“Without quality renewable datasets that are coherent with the weather conditions and load, we are flying blind with respect to planning for an energy system powered by renewables. This contribution from Pattern Energy is a step forward in filling the gap and will help enable more accurate power system analysis,” said Justin Sharp, who has a doctorate in atmospheric sciences and is an EPRI technical lead focusing on the intersection of meteorology and energy.
“The Pattern team and I recognize that there is benefit to all consumers, as well as the power system broadly, by making this data publicly available,” said Christopher Clack, Pattern Energy vice president of integrated systems planning and CEO of VCE. “One of the main challenges that modelers run into when designing robust future clean-power systems is the lack of availability of granular quality renewable datasets for multiple weather years. The partnership with Catalyst Cooperative moves us one step closer to a clean and reliable grid.”
“The models that energy planners utilize to power our world are only as good as the information provided to that model. Modelers have been operating with only a part of the picture, which is a risk to reliability for all consumers. The release of RARE Power Dataset will help the collective community to build a stronger grid for everyone,” said Ric O’Connell, executive director of GridLab.
More info www.vibrantcleanenergy.com | www.gridlab.com
