Wind Mapping
In late 2000, TrueWind Solutions used a sophisticated model called MesoMap to provide BC Hydro with a wind speed map [PDF, 3.5 Mb]. The map covers the entire province and displays annual average wind speeds at a height of 65 m above the ground, which is the average hub-height of a modern wind turbine. Wind speeds are displayed using a colour code that indicates the quality of the wind resource; anything over 7.0 metres per second or about 25 kilometres per hour is considered a good wind energy resource. There are now additional sources of wind map information for BC such as the Canadian Wind Energy Atlas.
The map provides annual average model predicted wind speeds. This means that monitoring is required to identify seasonal variability in wind speed and consistency.
