Data

Update February 2023: Unfortunately, an error has been discovered in the configuration of the 2050 offshore capacity scenario. In particular, the applied characteristics of the DTU_10MW_178_RWT_v1 reference wind turbine were not correct. Consequently, the datafiles of the one-year HARMONIE simulation with the 2050 capacity scenario have been removed from the KNMI dataplatform. In the course of 2023 updated files with the correct configuration will be uploaded. We apologise for the inconvenience.


The following HARMONIE-AROME WINS50 datasets are publicly available on the KNMI Data Platform:

The three datasets are briefly discussed below (a more in-depth description of how the WINS50 wind farm scenarios were constructed is provided in (1)). Also, information on available data files and on how to download the data are presented.

Datasets from the GRASP large-eddy simulation model will become available later.


Image Library

To facilitate the accessibility of the dataset, an Image Library of preprocessed figures has been developed. This collection of plots allows for browsing through instantaneous snapshots of the wind field. Moreover, Figures are available that indicate the impact of atmospheric stability on the wind farm wakes and the frequency of occurrence of specified velocity deficits. Two exampes from the Image Library are shown below. The area shown in the Figures illustrates the spatial extent of the publicly available datasets.


Two examples from the WINS50 Image Library. Left: snapshot of the 100-m wind speed from the simulation without wind farms. Right: mean 100-m wind speed difference between the simulation with the hypothetical 2050 capacity scenario and the simulation without wind farms for southeasterly winds (30 degrees wide range around 135 degrees).
Image: WINS50.



Description of the datasets

HARMONIE 2019-2021 simulation without wind farms (extension DOWA)

In WINS50 the DOWA is extended by three more years (2019, 2020, 2021). It turned out that the HARMONIE-AROME Cycle 40 that was used for DOWA could no longer be used for WINS50. Instead, for WINS50 an updated version of HARMONIE was used: HARMONIE-AROME Cycle 43. The consequences for the continuity between the the DOWA and WINS50 dataset is discussed in the memo Comparison DOWA and WINS50-data.

The WINS50 ERA5-HARMONIE (tag harmonie-43h2.1) re-analyses was made on a domain of 789 by 789 points centered around The Netherlands (the same computational domain as used for DOWA). For WINS50 a dedicated set of output files was created for a smaller subdomain (217x234 gridcells). This subdomain is also similar to the DOWA subdomain.


HARMONIE 2019-2021 simulation including operational wind farms

This simulation includes wind farms that were operational in Europe (onshore and offshore) on the 1st of January of each of the three years. In HARMONIE-AROME, the effect of windfarms is included using the Fitch et. al, 2012 (2) wind farm parameterization. In this parameterization wind turbines act as a sink for momentum leading to a reduction of the wind speed. The released energy is distributed between increased levels of turbulent kinetic energy and power production.

Details on operational offshore wind farms and turbine types are obtained from different sources. Most of the turbine locations are obtained from OpenStreetMap. For some wind farms no turbine locations were available at the time of the model simulation. For these wind farms, the boundaries were taken from a wind farm shapefile provided by the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). Subsequently, for the concerning wind farms the required number of turbines were evenly distributed within the wind farm boundaries using an iterative repulsion method (for more information see Van Stratum et al., 2022 (3).

Following (3), wind turbine power and thrust curves were obtained from various sources, predominantly from windPRO input database. For a small number of turbines no data were available. For those turbines either reference data from literature was used or data from comparable turbines.

All information on the wind farms that are included in the simulations for 2019, 2020, and 2021 is provided in a shapefile: wins50_windfarm_scenarios.zip. This shapefile also contains data for the hypothetical 2050 capacity scenario, which is described in the next Section. The maps below present the locations and characteristics of the various WINS50 wind farm scenarios (underlying data is taken directly from the shapefile).



The WINS50 windfarm scenarios. Left: 2019 (grey), 2020 (green), 2021(orange). The scenarios for later years also contain the windfarms of earlier years. Right: the WINS50 2050 scenario (which includes the windfarms from the 2019 and 2020 scenarios). Clicking on a windfarm provides additional information on the installed power, the number of turbines, and the applied turbine types.
Image: WINS50.



One year of HARMONIE with a hypothetical 2050 offshore capacity scenario (with 2020 weather)

This simulation of the 2020 weather includes a hypothetical wind farm scenario with an installed capacity that is anticipated for the year 2050. For instance, in the WINS50 2050 scenario the installed capacity in the Dutch part of the North Sea (EEZ) is 53 GW (presently 2.5 GW), while for the entire North Sea this number amounts to 190 GW (presently around 20 GW). The results of this simulation allow for investigating the impact of a large-scale roll-out of the offshore wind energy capacity on the atmosphere.

The motivation for WINS50 2050 hypothetical wind farm scenario is extensively described in (1). Here, only a basic description of the scenario is given. Based on the WINS50 wind farm shapefile (wins50_windfarm_scenarios.zip), the map above (right) provides a detailed insight in the WINS50 2050 scenario.

In short, the WINS50 2050 scenario is constructed of three layers:

1. Present (operations) wind farms.
These are the operational wind farms taken from the WINS50 2020 scenerio, added with publicly available data on wind farm and turbine locations up to April 2021. These wind farms are modeled as realistic as possible.
Examples: Gemini and Luchterduinen.

2. Planned wind farms.
These are the wind farms for which actual wind farm boundaries are already published. Roughly, this concerns wind farms that will become operational before 2030. As much as possible we use actually planned installed capacities. For the Dutch planned wind farms we use wind farm site boundaries as provided by RVO Offshorewind as available in April 2021.
Examples: Hollandse Kust and IJmuiden Ver

3. Future wind farms.
These are hypothetical wind farms. For this we make use of the future wind farm scenario of the WoZEP (Wind op Zee Ecologisch Programma). We thank the WoZEP team for making their scenario available for use in the WINS50 project! Among others, the WoZEP future wind scenario is constructed to meet the 2050 offshore wind energy targets of the countries around the North Sea as known in 2018, using a capacity density of 8 MW/km2, and a maximum wind farm size of 400 km2. Further motivation for the WoZEP scenario can be found in (4) and (1).

For the operational windfarms the applied turbine types are as realistic as possible (given information in April 2021). For wind farms that are expected to become operational in the coming years, we use the 10 MW DTU_10MW_178_RWT_v1 reference wind turbine. For wind farms that will be commissioned later (towards 2030) and for all hypothetical (future) wind farms we use the 15 MW IEA_15MW_240_RWT reference wind turbine.



Data files

Data are available as NetCDF files. Two different formats are available:

Both the daily 3D and the time series files contain exactly the same data and are in NetCDF, but are organised differently to suit different users.

Downloading the data

The WINS50 data files can be dowloaded from the KNMI Data Platform via an API. Information on how to obtain an API key can be found at https://developer.dataplatform.knmi.nl/.

With an API key, WINS50 data files can be downloaded with a python script. For convenience, an example script is provided here: wins50_pull_from_knmi_kdp.py.

The indices for the singlepoint files are organized as follows: (ix,iy)=(1,1) corresponds to the lower-left gridpoint of the WINS50 subdomain, (ix,iy)=(217,234) to the upper-right gridpoint of the subdomain. For convencience, the latitude, longitude coordinates of all (ix,iy) indices are listed in the wins50_singlepoint_lookuptable.csv.





  1. I Wijnant, N Theeuwes, B van Ulft, T Zoer, P Baas (2022): Wind farms in WINS50 climatology, WINS50 report.
  2. AC Fitch, JB Olson, JK Lundquist, J Dudhia, AK Gupta, J Michalakes, I Barstad (2012): Local and Mesoscale Impacts of Wind Farms as Parameterized in a Mesoscale NWP Model, Monthly Weather Review, 140, 3017-3038.
  3. B van Stratum, NE Theeuwes, J Barkmeijer, B van Ulft, I Wijnant (2022): A year-long evaluation of a wind-farm parameterisation in HARMONIE-AROME, J. Adv. Mod. Earth Sys.
  4. LA van Duren, F Zijl, T van Kessel, VTM van Zeist, LM Vilmin, J van der Meer, GM Aarts, J van der Molen, K Soetaert, and AW Minns (2021): Ecosystem effects of large upscaling of offshrore wind on the North Sea - Synthesis report. Deltares rapport 11203731-004-ZKS-0010.