Climate services for and with the renewable energy sector in Norway

The expansion of and increasing dependency on renewable energy that exploit climate variables, such as wind and precipitation, are highly sensitive to climate variability and weather extremes. Climate Futures is a Center of Research-based Innovation that aims to “co-produce new and innovative solutions for predicting and managing climate risks from sub-seasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) and seasonal-to-decadal (S2D) time scales with a cluster of partners in climate- and weather-sensitive sectors”, including the renewable energy sector, through long-term cooperation between businesses, public organizations and research groups.

The aim of the cross-sectoral collaboration is for renewable energy companies to integrate improved climate predictions into their decision making. The long-term implications are a more resilient energy sector and stable power production. Examples of ongoing projects within the center include (1) using large ensemble climate model simulations to estimate near-future changes in precipitation variability, and (2) estimating future wind power production and variability using state-of-the-art decadal climate predictions. These results are important for future wind- and hydropower operations and infrastructure planning.