Potential Climate Change Impacts on Wind Resources in Oklahoma: a Focus on Future Energy Output

Abstract

The current study focused on the potential climate change effects on wind resources in Oklahoma. This was a quantitative study that involved Global Climate Model output, Oklahoma Mesonet data, and electric power-curve characteristics for a commercial wind turbine. The analyses were done in Microsoft Excel and Geographical Information Systems. Essentially, the goal of the study was to examine how human-caused climate change might increase or decrease wind speeds, therefore affecting energy output, in the future. The findings of the current study include increasing wind speeds for every season, except for fall, rom 2039 through 2070. Furthermore, electricity generated from these wind velocities increased at Centennial Wind-farm and Weatherford Wind Energy Center wind-farm over the same time period. The findings of this study could have a significant impact on Oklahoma's wind power industry.