Weather databases

Weather database for renewable energy technologies: onshore winds, offshore wind and photovoltaics

r2b’s high resolution temporal weather data are based on analyses of the German Weather Service (DWD) with the models COSMO-EU/ICON-EU. r2b processes the DWD weather data for PPA evaluations and fundamental energy analyses.

  • Complete weather data are available for the countries of the European Union.
  • The spatial resolution of the data has a mesh size of 0.0625°, which corresponds to about 7 kilometers.
  • The database covers the meteorological years from 2007 to and including 2021.
  • The data include regional, hourly wind speeds and local, hourly values of global radiation, direct radiation and temperatures (data basis: reanalysis data of the COSMO-EU model (until 2016) and ICON-EU model (from 2016) of the German Weather Service).
Cloud in the Sky with weather database

The following data are available in detail:

Geocoordinates for the grid models

The grids of the two models (COSMO-EU/ICON-EU) are defined differently. The data contain unique grid points (IDs) to which coordinates (Long/Lat WGS84) are assigned.

Global radiation

Hourly global radiation data defined for grid points (IDs) (data content varies between years as DWD has extended/improved the forecast accuracy of global radiation data over time).

Direct radiation

Hourly direct radiation data defined for grid points (IDs)

Temperatures

Hourly ground level temperature data defined for the grid points (IDs)

Wind speeds

Hourly wind speed data defined for grid points (IDs) for three height levels (a basis for scaling wind speeds to typical hub heights). In the COSMO model, the height levels are defined at 179m, 116m, and 70m above ground. In the ICON model, the height layers are defined at 175m, 99m, and 44m.

In addition, we have spatially high-resolution weather data at our disposal 

r2b’s spatially high-resolution weather data is based on analyses by the World Bank Group, Solargis, the Technical University of Denmark and Vortex. r2b processes the weather data for GIS applications and energy fundamental analyses.

abstract image with diagrams and clouds
  • Complete weather data are available for the countries of the European Union.
  • The spatial resolution of the data is 250 m.
  • The data are available in average daily and annual values.
  • Average monthly values are also available for the data relevant to PV systems.

The following data are available in detail:

  • Global radiation
  • Direct radiation
  • Diffuse irradiation
  • Air temperature
  • Optimal orientation angle for photovoltaic systems
  • Expected energy production of photovoltaic systems per kWp installed lcapacity and year
  • Terrain height or bathymetry
  • Time series for wind for hub heights 10m, 50m, 100m, 150m and 200m: wind speeds, utilization factor, weibull factors, power and air density