Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) climate information for the energy sector

The fraction of renewables in the energy mix has steadily increased over the last decade, but system integration remains a challenge due to their intrinsic volatility. The development, operation and maintenance of a renewable power system requires a clear understanding of the impact of current climatic conditions and their potential changes under climate change scenarios. For example, wind power generation will become one key technology in the global pathway toward the net-zero objectives of the European climate strategy and for EU energy independence, with expected demand to ramp up installations of both onshore and offshore production systems by 2050. Year 2021 was characterized by low annual average wind speeds in northwestern and central Europe, with implications for the wind power generation, as reported by the C3S European State of the Climate 2021.  The wind energy industry therefore needs relevant climate-derived information at different timescales, depending on the specific project and application. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) delivers data and information designed to address the needs of users to assess the impact of climate on energy operations, management and planning, as well as the needs of the community of energy modelers, needing user-friendly datasets for their assessment studies. Those users need datasets coherent at continental level, which make use of homogenized and long-term climate data sources, and that permit to link energy demand and production to climate variability and projected climate changes. Several applications built on C3S data have been further developed in downstream Services, demonstrating the relevance of the C3S data value chain to support the energy sector users.