Good day,
Our regulator has questioned the 5 year period of meteorological on-site data selected and used in our ARCON study and has requested a sensitivity analysis which would make a "technical determination" on the impact of the choice of meteorological data, as well taking into consideration climate change impacts. I would appreciate advice / guidance on the following:
1) My understanding is that 5 years of recent meteorological data that have been shown to be "representative" of the long-term conditions at the site would be sufficient, where "representative" means "very similar" and not "bounding". Thus, some variability (differences) year-on-year and over any 5 year periods is expected and would be acceptable as long as there are not any major / large discrepancies. Is this understanding correct?
2) Are there any widely accepted guidance on acceptable methods, qualitative or quantitative, for demonstrating that the meteorological data selected for use in ARCON is "representative" of long-term conditions at the site? If so, can details on these please be provided?
2) Are climate change impacts typically part of such "representative" evaluations, and if so, how would one go about evaluating this?
Kind regards
Yolanda Combrink