A unified high-resolution wind and solar dataset from a rapidly updating numerical weather prediction model

A new gridded dataset for wind and solar resource estimation over the contiguous United States has been derived from hourly updated 1-h forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) 3-km model composited over a three-year period (approximately 22 000 forecast model runs). The unique dataset features hourly data assimilation, and provides physically consistent wind and solar estimates for the renewable energy industry. The wind resource dataset shows strong similarity to that previously provided by a Department of Energy-funded study, and it includes estimates in southern Canada and northern Mexico. The solar resource dataset represents an initial step towards application-specific fields such as global horizontal and direct normal irradiance. This combined dataset will continue to be augmented with new forecast data from the advanced HRRR atmospheric/land-surface model. •A unified wind/solar dataset is derived from hourly forecast model guidance.•The 3-km resolution model incorporates advanced data assimilation and model physics.•80-m wind verification indicates a bias of less than 1 m s−1 at a site in Colorado.•Spatial patterns of 80-m wind and solar resource agree well with previous studies.