From Wind to Sun

Author: SWS
SWS sponsors Univeristy of Michigan Solar Car Team

     Sailing Weather Service, LLC recently sponsored the University of Michigan (U of M) Solar Car Team in the World Solar Car Challenge, held in the Australian Outback in October. The Challenge started in Australia’s Northern Territory and ended in Southern Australia, requiring racing across Australia’s vast, hot and most desolate lands. The team finished the 3021-kilometer course third in a field of more than 30 cars. The team used input from Sailing Weather Service’s proprietary high resolution weather modeling to assist determining an optimum battery charging strategy.

     Sailing Weather Service, LLC provided access to proprietary high resolution meteorological modeling and computer resources that the U of M student team used to run twice-daily simulations of the weather conditions across the entire Australian Continent. Predictions of cloud cover and incoming solar radiation – variables that are vital to predicting the charging efficiency of the Solar Car batteries – were made along the entire race route from the coastal city of Darwin in the tropical Northern Territories south to Adelaide on the nation’s south coast. In addition, Sailing Weather Service provided consulting to the team on setting up and operating the models , a technology transfer component critical for this student-run competition.

     “As a University of Michigan alumnus, I am especially proud of our partnership with the students in this exciting green challenge,” said Sailing Weather Service Founder and Chief Meteorologist Chris Bedford. “Our experience in the application of state-of-the-art numerical weather modeling to strategic decision-making in competition makes this partnership a natural for us. We are particularly excited about the ability to showcase our technology in the area of alternative energy, where the accurate and timely prediction of weather conditions is vitally important.”

     Sailing Weather Service’s Chief of Meteorological Modeling, Matthew Jones, worked closely with Chris McMeeking, the Solar Car Team’s student-meteorologist, transferring models to the University’s computing resources and providing advice on use and application of the information. Alex Dowling, U OF M Solar Car Team Strategy Division Manager, remarked that “we are pleased to have connected with Sailing Weather Service to improve our forecasting capabilities in Australia.”

     Sailing Weather Service, LLC, is a premier provider of customized weather forecasting and consulting to high-demand marine customers and users of detailed weather information worldwide. Headquartered near Boston, Mass., Sailing Weather Service maintains a globally re-locatable modeling system that can be applied to focus on locations with forecasts at resolutions of less than 1 km and out to 120 hours. This modeling capability supports task-specific decision-making technology and is enhanced by our experienced meteorologists’ interpretation and clear communication of complex weather information. Learn more about Sailing Weather Service at http://www.sailwx.com.

     To learn more about the University of Michigan’s Solar Car team, visit http://solarcar.engin.umich.edu.