Is Your Wind Portfolio Climate Resilient? Naomi Stringfield Marketing Manager Published: May 17, 2016 Environmental and Public Health Protection Wind and Solar Energy Extreme low wind events in the U.S. during 2015 and their subsequent effect on local power output served as a strong reminder of the risks associated with investing in regional power portfolios. The so-called "wind drought" impacted the financial performance of many wind project portfolios and raised concerns across the industry. In particular, project owners with assets in both Texas and California experienced widespread underperformance across their entire portfolios due to some of the lowest wind speeds on record, creating cash flow problems and questions about the viability of further investment decisions. While operators of wind energy projects throughout North America have demonstrated an awareness of the significance of geographic portfolio diversification, a strategy of deploying assets in a range of different regions in order to mitigate the financial impact of below average wind resource in any one area, widespread underperformance in the U.S. throughout much of 2015 has brought the strategy into question. Today Vaisala shared new research findings that highlight the importance of intelligent project selection for wind investors and ways to more realistically set future revenue expectations. These findings show that building a genuinely diverse, climate resilient portfolio reduces the variability and financial impact created by short and long-term weather anomalies. This effort is part of an ongoing drive to help the U.S. wind industry meet the challenge of maintaining shareholder confidence with steady returns and better mitigate the financial impacts of extreme weather events. Questions addressed in our report: How much diversification is possible given the number of regions usually targeted for wind development? What is the range of variability achieved by existing portfolios? When revenue varies dramatically based on weather, how can operators set responsible budget expectations? What are your strategies for portfolio diversification and revenue forecasting? Learn more at AWEA WINDPOWER 2016 next week in New Orleans. Meet with us at Booth 1317 or hear directly from our experts at one of the presentations below: How to Take Advantage of Portfolio Diversity" at the Topics & Trends in Wind Assessment Session Speaker: Matthew Hendrickson The ‘Godzilla’ El Niño of 2015/2016: Impacts on Wind Energy in North America Speaker: Pascal Storck, Ph.D.
