ICEM 2025 Workshop: Maximising Reanalysis Data Value for Energy Sector Use

Workshop Title: Maximising Reanalysis Data Value for Energy Sector Use
When: (Day 1) Tuesday 3rd June 2025 – 16:10-18:00 CEST
Where: Galzignano Terme Spa and Golf Resort, Sala dei Giganti

Session description:

This workshop will explore the current status, challenges, and future pathways for developing a high-quality, long-term global meteorological dataset, which is essential for a wide range of electric system planning needs. As the electric system becomes increasingly sensitive to weather in complex ways, planners need long-term, high-resolution global datasets that accurately capture spacial and temporal relationships across key meteorological variables critical to electric system operations.

Many existing datasets, including reanalysis datasets that blend observational data with physics-based (numerical weather prediction) models, or those derived from reanalysis using additional physical or machine learning models, are potential candidates for this purpose. However, all reanalysis datasets have limitations, making them suitable for some planning activities but not others. Unfortunately, users often lack clear guidance on selecting the right dataset for their specific needs, leading to choices based on institutional preferences, popularity, or word-of-mouth which  can negatively impact the validity of planning outcomes. 

The session will begin with a keynote presentation from the perspective of electric system planning. It will cover the attributes and issues of current and soon-to-be available datasets, highlighting future pathways to enhance their suitability and helping users make informed decisions when selecting datasets for their applications. 

Following the keynote, a panel discussion will  involve both experts and the audience to identify key issues with current datasets and explore the most promising pathways to enhance the suitability of future datasets for energy system planning. The discussion will also address how to strengthen users’ ability to select the most appropriate datasets for their needs. 

This session builds on the 2023 report, “Weather Dataset Needs for Planning and Analyzing Modern Power Systems,” produced by the Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG), along with insights from the International Energy proceedings.

Session lead:
John Zack (Meso Inc. and WEMC RWG)