An assessment of high-resolution wind speeds downscaled with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model for coastal areas in Ghana

Ghana produces over 50% of its electrical energy demands from fossil-fuelled thermal plants. To increase the proportion of renewable energy in the national energy generation, a Renewable Energy Master Plan (REMP) which seeks, among others, to shift the country's national energy generation capacity towards more renewable energy sources has been developed. The REMP noted that inadequate data on renewable energy sources such as wind is one of the challenges to achieving this target. In this regard, this paper assessed the open-source Weather Research and Forecasting Model, as a tool for generating wind resource data. The WRF model is often used to downscale meteorological datasets for wind resources assessments. However, due to diverse model options, performance assessments are required to establish the accuracy and suitability of a model configuration for an application in an area. This paper assessed the performance of a Weather Research and Forecasting Model configuration that is based on previous verification studies. In evaluation, data accuracy benchmarks were generally met by the downscaled wind data. A wind map that was generated was observed to be generally accurate and better than the previous 2001 wind map for Ghana. It is presumed that the configuration is suitable for wind mapping activities for the coastal areas in Ghana, and probably neighbouring countries. However, for downscaling time-series data, further studies are recommended.