Wind energy developers understand the need to use climate reference data as part of the wind resource assessments that drive energy production estimates. This is because wind resource may rise and fall over the course of decades, due to longer-term fluctuations in the climate. The objective of climate reference data is to accurately reflect the future climatology; climate reference data can increase or decrease the long-term energy estimate by two or more percent. A reference of twenty or more years is generally recommended to accurately capture the climatology of a project location.
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