New Australia Wind Atlas

The 2026 Australia wind map released on UL Solutions Windnavigator Resource Data and Maps software[1] is a major update to the prior map that was released in 2013. The 200-m resolution mean wind speed maps are created with UL Solutions’ proprietary wind flow modeling system consisting of a coupled mesoscale and microscale model. UL Solutions is leveraging the latest advancements in wind modeling technology, especially regarding the mesoscale numerical weather prediction modeling. The model outputs are subsequently fine-tuned with wind measurements from UL Solutions’ database of met stations. To reduce bias in our wind speed map, we used 55 observations from Australia, which were filtered and aggregated into 18 representative meteorological stations. These stations were also used for validation through a leave-one-out cross-validation. The new Australia wind map (2026) was compared to the prior Australia map (2013) as well as the Global Wind Atlas (Davis et al. 2023[2]). UL Solutions’ 2026 wind map performs better than the Global Wind Atlas on two key error metrics i.e. the mean wind speed bias and RMSE but not on the standard deviation and R² correlation. For greenfield site prospecting applications, our goal is to offer a wind speed map without a mean bias and with the lowest RMSE possible, as these are the parameters directly impacting the accuracy of the energy yield estimations. UL Solutions strongly believes this new wind atlas offers enhanced insights when analyzing and prospecting greenfield sites and assessing competing projects. These enhancements are designed to help wind developers make better informed decisions.

Table 1: Comparison of 2026 Australia wind map against UL Solutions' 2013 version and the Global Wind Atlas

Map	MBE (m/s)	STDEV (m/s)	RMSE (m/s)	R2	Sample size
Global Wind Atlas	0.31	0.39	0.48	0.82	18
UL Solutions 2013 map	0.44	0.51	0.66	0.69
UL Solutions 2026 map	0.04	0.45	0.45	0.74

Expanded into Offshore Areas

The new Australia wind atlas has been expanded to cover the Exclusive Economic Zone, extending the Australia map up to 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) offshore. Key wind statistics are now available on the Windnavigator platform facilitating the greenfield site prospecting for offshore wind farms.

Enhanced Wind Map Heights

The new Australia wind atlas is available at several heights ranging from 10 m to 300 m above ground level. This is a welcome improvement to our original maps which were limited to 140 m height. Given the additional heights, the new maps are especially useful for projects involving taller wind turbines, which are becoming the norm for modern wind farms.

Improved Wind Modeling and Accuracy

The coupled mesoscale-microscale modeling system was upgraded to take advantage of new developments in mesoscale modeling and reanalysis datasets. UL's wind modeling system relies on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model and the fifth generation ERA5 reanalysis dataset. The 2026 Australia reflect a notable improvement in wind speeds due to the upgraded modeling system based on the WRF mesoscale model and the ERA5 reanalysis. These refinements provide a better representation of wind patterns and reduce the margin of error in wind speed estimations.

Critical Tool for Greenfield Prospecting

One of the primary use cases of Windnavigator's new Australia American map is greenfield prospecting. For developers looking to identify the best locations for future wind projects where measurement data may not yet be available, these maps should serve as a trusted and practical wind prospecting tool. The 2026 update reduces the uncertainty with early-stage project development, helping developers lower overall project costs by providing more accurate wind speed predictions and site conditions.