Wind Climatology, Climate Change, and Wind Energy

This article presents an overview of research in wind climatology and wind energy. Specifically, patterns and trends in wind speed are examined. This article looks at both past variability and trends and projected future patterns of the wind resource in various locations across the globe. A review of the historical and current research and results in each one of these areas is presented. In addition, results from research into one of these areas (e.g., analysis of wind speed patterns) are presented as an example within the overall broader review to illustrate current and potential future avenues of investigation. In the past, there has been disconnect between the research being conducted on wind speed climatology and the efforts of the wind industry to understand changes in the resource, and this article represents an attempt to summarize the current status of the research, and also suggest possible avenues of future research.