Congratulations!Successful Master’s Thesis Presentation by Sumitra Sharma

25 February 2025

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We are delighted to congratulate Sumitra Sharma on the successful presentation of her Master’s thesis, titled:

"Validation of Wind Modelled Data for the Resource Assessment of Wind Farms"

Supervised by Prof. Dr. Nedjeljka Žagar and Dr. Frank Lunkeit (Meteorologisches Institut, Universität Hamburg), Sumitra’s research addresses a critical challenge in wind energy resource assessment. With the increasing demand for renewable energy, accurate wind resource assessment (WRA) is essential for the optimal design and placement of wind farms.

Her thesis evaluates public and commercial model-based atmospheric datasets, including ERA5 reanalysis, Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) downscaled data, and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) outputs, comparing them against direct measurement records from various regions. With support from RWE Offshore Wind, her findings reveal that LES downscaling provides the most accurate mean wind speed predictions, while ERA5 performs best in areas where wind speed is significantly influenced by input data.

Following the completion of her thesis, Sumitra will join the wind energy industry as an Offshore Wind and Site Assessment Analyst, applying her expertise to enhance site selection strategies and optimize wind farm development.

Congratulations, Sumitra, on this significant achievement!