This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.

November 21, 2012

Wind Farms Sharing Weather Data with NOAA

Two of the nation's largest producers of wind-generated electric power will share privately-collected weather data with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), providing agency scientists with additional observations from wind farms across the nation for research and operations. NOAA now has data sharing agreements with Iberdrola Renewables of Portland, Oregon, and NextEra Energy Resources of Juno Beach, Florida. These are the country's two largest producers of wind-generated electric power, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

The companies will provide valuable weather observations from instrumented towers in their wind farms and wind speed data from instruments atop wind turbines. While the observations are business-sensitive and will not be redistributed outside of NOAA, the agency's scientists will use the data to validate and improve weather models at NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory and at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction. See the NOAA press release.