Whiffle’s highly advanced weather model makes renewable energy production more predictable. Optimized by artificial intelligence and machine learning, the company offers the world’s first operational weather model based on Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The calculations of the weather model are run on graphic processing units (GPUs), allowing local turbulence and underlying processes and conditions in the atmosphere to be captured with unprecedented detail.

The model calculates wind speed and solar irradiation with horizontal resolutions of 10’s of meters, including all effects of the surroundings: vegetation, landscape, sea state, obstacles, wake, and blockage effects. More accurate weather forecasting lowers imbalance risk and costs for energy companies. The model can also be used to optimize the configuration of wind farms and better predict future energy yields: aspects that are important for lowering financing costs and increasing annual yields. Application areas of Whiffle’s model include wind and solar power projects and air quality. Whiffle B.V. was founded in 2015, starting as a spin out of the Dutch Delft University of Technology.