Solutions and Weather Data Tailored to Your Needs
Weather has a highly relevant impact on the energy industry. Energy consumption, production, storage and transportation are directly dependent on the weather.
Accurate weather information is therefore central to successful business in the energy industry and can lead to the realization of competitive advantages.
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Meteomatics for Energy Transition: BKW
Why Is Weather Important for the Energy Industry?
Weather has a huge impact on the energy industry. Not only is the consumption of energy highly weather dependent, but so is energy production, especially with renewables.
Whether it is about minimizing risk, efficient and optimized operations, enabling new trading strategies, or digitizing processes – the energy industry requires reliable data to understand the effect of weather and its impact on business.
Impact of Weather on Energy Consumption and Demand
Weather has a direct impact on energy demand and its consumption. If it is cold outside, the demand for energy for heating naturally increases. When it is very hot, the energy demand also increases due to the use of air conditioning.
However, the weather not only has a major influence on the heating and cooling behavior of consumers, but also on industrial production. Production plants also require more energy during the cold and dark season, as well as being similarly exposed to heating/cooling demand.
Impact of Weather on Energy Production
Renewable energies are highly dependent on the weather
The power grid should be in balance at all times, i.e. supply and demand must always be aligned. For utilities, large fluctuations in renewable energy production therefore pose a challenge to ensure this balance. Due to the transition to (non-dispatchable) renewable energies, this topic is gaining additional ecological and social importance.
For example, a large part of the Swiss electricity mix consists of hydropower. The inflows used in this process are subject to seasonal fluctuations. In the rainy summer months or during the snowmelt in spring, the inflow is correspondingly greater than in winter, when precipitation remains stored in the form of snow. The situation is similar for wind and solar power generation, which is even more directly dependent on wind and global radiation.
Consequently, the production of renewable energies is subject to strong fluctuations which are, on the one hand, dependent on the weather on a daily basis and, on the other hand, are also subject to seasonal fluctuations. Therefore, especially short-term, local and precise weather data are of great importance. But also medium and long-term weather forecasts are important for the seasonal planning of energy procurement and distribution.
Impact of Weather on Energy Infrastructure
Environmental and weather conditions can have several impacts on the energy infrastructure. Weather conditions, for instance, influence the transmission capacity of high voltage power lines and thus have a direct impact on the efficient use of energy.
Distribution System Operators need to precisely forecast their regional demand, which then must be brought into a balance with the energy supply required. Inaccurate demand forecasts lead to more challenges in the intraday operations, to higher cost, and thus to a reduced profit. Hence Distribution System Operators require accurate forecasts and a plethora of parameters/indices to get a demand forecast coming close to reality.
Transmission System Operators need to precisely forecast transmission capacities to operate the transmission systems as efficiently as possible. Inaccurate forecasts of environmental conditions, and thus transmission capacities, lead to an inefficient or even restricted use of the transmission system, and thus to significant losses. Therefore, for Transmission System Operators, accurate forecasts, easy-to-use platforms and reliable services are indispensable.
Additionally, historic weather data can be used in order to understand the weather conditions at new production facilities and thus the potential of wind and solar earnings.
Site and Location Evaluation: minimizing risk, maximizing earnings
Are you planning a new wind farm or a new solar plant? Are you interested in the potential of the site without having to take measurements yourself for several years?
Based on historical weather data, analyses can be performed for specific locations and thus a first assessment of the energy potential based on wind speeds or global radiation of the site can be made. Through these analyses, the yield potential can be estimated, which greatly reduces the planning risk and the yields can subsequently be maximized with weather forecast data.
For these analyses to be as reliable as possible, locally precise weather data are of paramount importance. Meteoamtics offers a very high local resolution and accuracy of weather data thanks to the 90 meter downscaling approach. This creates planning security and decisions can be made with confidence.
Weather Data to Accelerate the Energy Transition
Accurate weather data helps to better integrate renewable energy into the power grid, allowing renewable energy to be used more cost-effectively. The economic use of renewable energies helps the expansion and thus promotes the efforts towards energy transition and climate neutrality.
The more accurate the weather data, the better the power forecasts for renewable energies. With an installed capacity of over a gigawatt of solar, wind or hydro, even a 1% difference in forecast error can trigger economic losses of several million Euros per year.
However, precise weather data can be used for much more than renewable energy power forecasts. The flexible availability and integration of all required weather data helps to optimize digital processes and services and to drive innovations faster.
For example, smart energy management systems can be developed in buildings and factories, or proprietary forecasting solutions for private consumers in their own homes.
Meteomatics Solutions for the Energy Industry
Weather API
Everything you need on call
Meteomatics Weather API removes the complexity of handling and processing weather data, allowing users to retrieve large volumes of weather data quickly.
Senior Operations Research Analyst
BKW
Meteomatics' weather API is unique in the market as it provides flexible and fast access to a huge amount of weather data in different data formats.
Your Benefits
- One source, one interface: query multiple parameters simultaneously for single or multiple sites and entire areas
- Query data in real time with a response time of a few milliseconds
- Real-time access to over 7 petabytes thanks to unique data processing technology (Meteocache)
- "On the fly" downscaling using topographic maps enables 90 meter resolution worldwide, greatly improving accuracy at the local level
- High resolution of data per minute
- Highest data quality: over 1640 updates per day ensure accuracy and timelines
Explore the Power of Our Weather Visualization Map
MetX Visualization Map
With weather maps, weather data can be made accessible to all
MetX is a web-based tool based on the weather API developed by Meteomatics. A weather map is used to display complex weather data and can easily visualize conditions. With our software for the visualization of weather data, we offer you a high-performance solution to gain more insights and thus make better decisions based on the weather situation.
Advantages and Benefits
- the calculation of weather data in real time when zooming or changing views
- a high granular resolution of 90 meters: based on the NASA terrain model, measuring points are calculated every 90 meters and the weather data are scaled down accordingly
- high temporal resolution every minute
- the possibility to use different maps like topographic maps, border maps, aeronautical maps etc.
- the use of layers to display different weather parameters
- clear display of up to 4 maps on one screen (quartering of the screen)
- data export for each point on the map
- individual solutions for your weather map on request
Renewable Energy Forecasting
Energy Forecasts for Solar, Wind & Water
Thanks to many years of experience in the design, implementation, and operation of statistical, deterministic and probabilistic forecasts, we are able to deliver market-oriented forecasting systems for the energy market that are tailored to your requirements.
CEO
LEAG Energy Cubes
Meteomatics offers the perfect solution for our needs. As a reliable partner, Meteomatics offers not only excellent data quality but also first-class service. We use Meteomatics' wind and solar power forecasts for over 500 plants with an installed capacity of over 1,100 MW. As a result, we improve our intraday and day-ahead energy management, saving costs and optimizing our yields.
Solar, Wind and Hydro Forecasting
We offer detailed forecast systems and individual solutions, which we refine locally on the basis of high-resolution weather model data. Local conditions as well as live data of the respective power plants are included in our energy forecasts. This enables us to make precise energy forecasts for wind, solar and hydropower feed-in for different control areas and locations.
With an installed capacity of over a gigawatt of solar, wind or hydro, even a 1% difference in forecast error can trigger economic losses of several million Euros per year.
Our Power Forecast
Your Benefits
- Obtain accurate energy forecasts based on 90-meter downscaling and nowcasts at up to 5-minute resolution
- Compare energy performance and understand past events based on historical data back to 1979
- Minimize risk and be able to define extreme weather event warnings
- Customize setup and calibration of each portfolio according to your needs
- Forecasts provide optimal basis for decision-making
- Solar and wind forecasts are additionally optimized based on live data
- Customers receive the forecasts in the desired format (diagrams, CSV files, etc.)
Learn From Our Customer Stories
This is how we support our energy customers with their forecasts, transmission capacity and process efficiency.
We Work With Groundbreaking Companies
We are proud to work with leading companies in the energy industry. Together, we realize efficiency benefits, better integration of renewables and help our partners realize digital innovations.
Meteorologist and Client Manager
Customised industry solutions
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Contact us if you have questions about specific industry applications or would like advice from our experts! We look forward to your enquiry and will get back to you within one working day.