Energy Department awards $2.5M to CU-Boulder, Vaisala for wind forecasting

BOULDER – The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $2.5 million grant to a group of companies and institutions, including the University of Colorado Boulder, to help improve wind-energy forecasting in mountain and valley regions.

Finland-based Vaisala, which has offices in Louisville, will help lead the research. Employing 1,500 worldwide, Vaisala specializes in environmental and industrial measurements.

Complex terrain in mountains and valleys can lead to wind forecasting challenges for utilities with wind turbines. Utilities could use more accurate forecasts to more efficiently integrate energy into the electrical grid, leading to lower consumer energy costs.

Vaisala and its partners will use advanced meteorological equipment, including wind-sensing lasers, to analyze wind patterns in the Columbia River Gorge region of Washington and Oregon. CU-Boulder students, led by assistant professors Julie Lundquist and Katja Friedrich, will participate in the experiment and analyze data.

Other partners in the effort include the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, the Louisville office of Lockheed Martin, Texas Tech University, the University of Notre Dame and an environmental consulting firm, Sharply Focused, of Portland, Ore.

Scientists from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and CU-Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences will participate in the research effort.

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