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Abstract:
Episodes of extremely strong northerly winds (known as etesians) during boreal summer can cause hazardous conditions over the Aegean Archipelago (Greece) and represent a threat for the safe design, construction, and operation of wind energy turbines. Here, these extremes are characterized by employing a peak-over-threshold approach in the extended summer season (May–September) from 1989 to 2008. Twelve meteorological stations in the Aegean are used, and results are compared with 6-hourly wind speed data from five ERA-Interim–driven regional climate model (RCM) simulations from the European domain of the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (EURO-CORDEX). The main findings show that, in the range of wind speeds for the maximum power output of the turbine, the most etesian-exposed stations could operate 90% at a hub height of 80 m. The central and northern Aegean are identified as areas prone to wind hazards, where medium- to high-wind (class II or I according to the International Electrotechnical Committee standards) wind turbines could be more suitable. In the central Aegean, turbines with a cutout wind speed > 25 m s−1 are recommended. Overall, RCMs can be considered a valuable tool for investigating wind resources at regional scale. Therefore, this study encourages a broader use of climate models for the assessment of future wind energy potential over the Aegean.
