Conclusion of the EUMETNET - E-TREND Joint Workshop on Postprocessing, Forecasting and Nowcasting (RenEUCast)

From 8 to 10 December 2025, the EUMETNET - E-TREND Joint Workshop on Postprocessing, Forecasting and Nowcasting for Renewable Energy, also known as RenEUCast25, was held at Vrije Universteit Brussel (VUB), funded jointly by the European Meteorological Network SNC (EUMETNET) and the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo).

RenEUCast25 was meant as a dedicated event for the exchange of knowledge focused on effective forecasting and postprocessing for the renewable energy sector, and to promote a better understanding of how end users integrate forecasts and current developments in their decision-making processes. Organized by the EUMETNET PP Module, the Belspo E-TREND consortium (Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (RMI)), the EUMETNET Nowcasting module (GeoSphere Austria), and the VUB-ETRO department, it was a resounding success, gathering more than 50 participants from both the weather forecasting community and the renewable energy sector. 30 high-quality contributions were presented, organized in 6 different sessions, and including 5 keynotes on important matters. In addition, the event was streamed online with more than 20 additional participants.

One of the conclusions of the event is that the rapid expansion of offshore and onshore wind capacity has outpaced the capabilities of traditional forecasting models. Indeed, during the workshop, a clear consensus emerged among the meteorological and energy research communities: the current lack of access to granular, high-frequency SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) data is a critical bottleneck. A policy brief is currently being redacted by Prof. Lesley De Cruz (RMI - VUB-ETRO) and others to try to unlock this access in the future.