A TEAM of researchers from the University of Strathclyde have won an international wind power forecasting competition by accurately estimating how much energy would be generated by a portfolio of wind farms over a two week period.

Forecasting researcher Jethro Browell and PhD student Ciaran Gilbert forecast the total generation from the farms with an error score four per cent lower than their nearest rivals

The EEM 2017 Forecast Competition was organised by TU Dresden in conjunction with the 14th European Energy Market Conference.

Mr Gilbert will receive a cash prize at the event, and present on the duo’s work, which is being prepared for released in open-source software.

The participants were given a set of input factors to work with, and had to forecast how much energy would be generated at 15 minute intervals for the following 38 hours on a rolling basis for two weeks.

Organisers said forecasting of weather-dependent energy sources was of crucial importance for both trading, and system stability, but has so far not been sufficiently addressed by industry and researchers.

Dr Browell said that improved forecasting can help keep consumer energy bills down.