This is the download site for the Numerical atlas for South Africa
To provide feedback to the WASA team, you can optionally download and fill in the questionnaire, and e-mail to the Webmaster
The WASA numerical wind atlas contains generalized wind atlas data sets for tens of thousands of model grid points covering all of South Africa. The WASA programme has three phases. WASA1 for the domain of WC and areas of NC and EC was completed in 2014. WASA2 focus is KZN, EC and FS, while WASA3 is modelling all of South Africa. WASA2 and WASA3 are ongoing with completion in 2018 and 2020 respectively. WASA1 measurements have been continued through all phases since 2010. WASA2 measurements were added since 2015 and WASA3 measurements will be on line from mid-2018. The location of the 10 WASA1 met. stations as well as the 5 WASA2 met. stations are shown here:
The wind atlas data sets for each grid point are stored in a database; the grid point locations can be viewed in Google Earth:
DownloadThe complete set of wind atlas data sets consists of 3-km LIB files for the WASA 1 domain, 5-km LIB files and 3.3-km LIB files (Dec 2018) for the entire South Africa. The LIB files are stored in ZIP archives and the names and positions are given in three different format files: CSV (MS Excel), DAT (simple ASCII text) and KMZ (Google Earth).
Please choose the file(s) you wish to download.The Numerical Wind Atlas method has been developed to obtain good indications of the wind climate and geographical distribution of the regional wind resource in large domains with scarcity of high quality wind measurements. This is particularly aimed at needs in public planning and useful for decision making and planning of feasibility studies and of actual project preparation.
The methodology used for the wind atlas for WASA is applying downscaling from global datasets to local terrain surface winds. The basis for the method is that there is a robust relationship between meteorological situations at the large-scale and the wind resource at a given location.
Information about the large-scale meteorological situation is freely available from several different reanalysis data-sets. These data-sets have been created by assimilating measurement data from around the globe in a consistent fashion for several years as e.g. from the NCEP/NCAR data-set that has reanalyzed data from 1948 to the present day. Our application of such data-sets is as a long term record of large-scale wind conditions.
Under revision updated version available by 1st of July 2018
Return to topThe WASA observational wind atlas contains observed (OWC) and generalised (GWC) wind atlas data sets for the 15 meteorological stations established and operated by the WASA project.
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Observed wind climate files from the 15 WASA stations. The data mostly cover an eight year period from November 2010 to September 2018 for the WASA 1 masts and a three-year period from November 2015 to October 2018 for the WASA 2 masts. The observed wind climate consists of the wind direction distribution (wind rose) and the sector-wise and total wind speed distributions. |
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Generalised wind climate files from the 15 WASA stations. The wind atlas data sets mostly represent an eight-year period from November 2010 to October 2018 for the WASA 1 masts and a three-year period from November 2015 to October 2018 for the WASA 2 masts. The generalised wind climate consists of wind roses and sector-wise wind speed distributions over flat uniform terrain, for five standard heights and five standard roughness classes. The standard heights are adapted to the WASA met. station measurement
heights: 10, 20, 40 and 62 m above ground level. | 
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The WAsP workspace WASA 1+2 validation 2018.wwh contains data and sample maps for the 15 meteorological stations in the Wind Atlas for South Africa. The file was established by the WASA project for the Observational Wind Atlas for South Africa.
The wind atlas data were calculated using the available information at the time of writing and the results may change in subsequent analyses and editions.
The case studies are provided to illustrate
how observational and numerical wind atlas data can be used for wind resource
assessment and siting for wind resource mapping and wind farm calculations. The case studies can be opened using WAsP 12.2, but may use different types and versions of wind and topographical input data to illustrate the calculations.
Wind atlas data sets are based on observed wind climates from the
meteorological station(s); the data cover periods of whole years from 2010 to
the present day.
Elevation maps were derived from SRTM 3 elevation grids, re-gridded in the UTM coordinate system. The grid cell size is here 50 m and the contour interval 10 or 20 meters. Simple land-sea maps with coastline, rivers and lakes were derived from the SWBD data set; roughness length initially 0.03 to 0.07 m for land and 0 m for water bodies. More complete land cover maps exist now for the mast sites; based on GlobCover 2009 or on the ESA CCI 2015 data sets.
The project brief listed below provides a brief overview of the Wind Atlas for South Africa project.
The following files are not yet available on the local server, and the link to the DTU server will follow
SANERIs Wind Atlas for South Africa site, www.wasaproject.info, contains general information about the Wind Atlas for South Africa project (WASA).
The WASA data are displayed at the CSIR Online site, www.wasa.csir.co.za.
The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model data can be downloaded from the WASA forecast site, veaonline.risoe.dk/wasa/
The magnetic declination at a site can be estimated using the magnetic declination calculator provided by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).
The Municipal Demarcation Board web site, www.demarcation.org.za, contains data defining the borders of South African provinces, districts and municipalities. Download in several different formats is free of charge.
Return to topThe WAsP Map Editor can download SRTM data and construct the elevation vector map directly (File > Import > From Web-Database). Other freely available software programs that can be used to make WAsP vector maps from SRTM data are described in an appendix to Wind resource assessment using the WAsP software (DTU Wind Energy E-0174).
SRTM files can also be downloaded through the USGS Global Data Explorer.
The SRTM Water Body Data (SWBD) set contains coastlines, lakes, and rivers in SHP
format. SAGA GIS can read such files, but so can the WAsP Map Editor. The elevation
map constructed by the WAsP Map Editor as described above will also contain
coastlines, lakes, rivers, etc. (File > Import > From Web-Database).
The land cover (roughness length) map can be digitized from a scanned paper map, aerial photo-graph or satellite imagery as described in the WAsP Map Editor help file. However, one can also digitise the roughness change lines directly in Google Earth using the Add > Path and Add > Polygon commands: The resulting kml / kmz file can be imported directly into the WAsP Map Editor (File > Import), where the roughness length values can then be assigned
The latest version of the WAsP Map Editor can import and translate some raster-based land cover data sets. (File > Import > From Web-Database).
Return to topThe WAsP Suite Installer can be downloaded from the WAsP web site at https://www.wasp.dk/Download/WAsP12-Suite-Installer
The WAsP Map Editor, Climate Analyst and Turbine Editor can be downloaded, installed and used free of charge.
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