Online workshop weather models and weather data for TenneT

Weather information becomes more and more important in the energy sector. Not only the energy supply itself, due to the transition to more renewable energy, but also the capacity of the network has a strong dependence on weather. For actors in the energy sector, it becomes therefore more and more important to integrate weather and climate knowledge in their operations. Weather data differs from other big data, some specific knowledge is needed to understand and work with weather data. That is why Tennet, a large Dutch and German transmission network operator, has requested Weather Impact to provide a workshop on weather models and weather data.

Due to the restrictions as a result of the corona virus, the workshop was given online. This provided the flexibility for employees from both the Netherlands and Germany to participate. We started with a theoretical introduction on weather and weather modelling, including the ins and outs of various weather models. In the second, more practical part, a set of tips and tricks was provided for working with weather data. Finally an overview of various open source software packages and open source weather and climate archives was provided. A large set of tools is offered to provide a kickstart in the analysis of weather information.

The workshop was attended by around 25 TenneT employees with different levels of experience in working with weather data. Because of the tailored content of the workshop – both having easy to understand overviews and very specialistic tips – the workshop included enough valuable information for every participant. It was exciting to bring the fields of meteorology, big data and energy network operations together and discuss the opportunities it brings for the energy transition. We look back at a successful workshop and want to thank all the participants for their attendance.