Exploring Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model Parameterizations for Enhanced Solar and Wind Energy Resources Predictions in Malawi

The need to utilize renewable energy to address climate challenges and CO2 emissions, while ensuring improved access to energy, is critical. This research focuses on a sensitivity analysis of the WRF-solar model, particularly its shortwave (SW) irradiance parameterization, as well as the WRF model, examining microphysics, land surface, planetary boundary layer (PBL), and cumulus schemes for solar and wind energy assessment. The study identifies optimal parameterization schemes for assessing wind and solar energy resources using the WRF and WRF-solar models. After a year of simulations using the optimal design, the average wind speed in the region at 50 m above sea level is roughly 4.1 m/s, with higher values in some places. In addition, there are notable variations in the global horizontal irradiance (GHI), with larger values seen across the northern part of the lake and over much of the southern region. Furthermore, the GHI values can reach as high as 8 kWh/m2/day. Similarly, the lake and Malawi’s southern region are shown as having high temperatures. Thus, effectively parameterizing solar and wind energy is crucial for future national energy strategies.