Abstract
A considerable amount of thought and planning should occur when considering the establishment of a solar monitoring station. One needs to understand the goals and limitations of the project and what can be accomplished with the instruments that fit within the budget. Other initial issues are: how the station will be maintained; how the data will be collected and analyzed; and how long the station will be operating. Of paramount importance is how the data are going to be used. For example, there is a considerable difference between monitoring to evaluate the long-term variability of the solar resource and using site data to provide the performance estimates to help obtain financing for a solar electric facility. This chapter consists of eleven sections. Section 1 will discuss overall considerations that set the basis for how the station should be configured. Section 2 will cover the instrumentation. The choice of location for the solar monitoring site is discussed next. Sections 5–7 cover the data logger and logistics such as maintenance and communications. Section 8 describes auxiliary measurements, and Sect. 9 will cover other useful instruments. Section 10 is on grounding, and Sect. 11 presents the physical layout of a hypothetical solar monitoring station.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Augustyn J, Geer T, Stoffel T et al (2002) Improving the accuracy of low cost measurement of direct normal solar irradiance. In: Proceedings of the solar conference, pp 329–334
Augustyn J, Geer T, Stoffel T et al (2004) Update of the algorithm to correct direct normal Irradiance measurements made with a rotating shadow band pyranometer. In: Campbell-Howe R, Wilkins-Crowder B (eds) Proceedings of the American solar energy society. American Solar Energy Society, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Blanc P, Espinar B, Geuder N et al (2014) Direct normal irradiance related definitions and applications: the circumsolar issue. Sol Energy 110:561–577. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2014.10.001
Michalsky JJ, Perez R, Stewart R et al (1988) Design and development of a rotating shadowband radiometer solar radiation/daylight network. Sol Energy 41:577–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-092X(88)90060-6
Michalsky JJ, Kutchenreiter M, Long CN (2017) Significant improvements in pyranometer nighttime offsets using high-flow DC ventilation. J Atmos Ocean Technol. https://doi.org/10.1175/jtech-d-16-0224.1
Morrison R (1998). Grounding and shielding techniques, 4th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons
Pape B, Batlles J, Geuder N et al (2009) Soiling impact and correction formulas in solar measurements for CSP projects. In: 15th SolarPaces international symposium. SolarPaces, Berlin, Germany
Vignola F (2006) Removing systematic errors from rotating shadowband pyranometer data. In: Campbell-Howe R (ed) Proceedings of the American solar energy society. American Solar Energy Society, Boulder, CO
Vignola, F, Michalsky JJ, Stoffel T (2012) Solar and Infrared Radiation Measurements, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, p 394
Vignola F, Derocher Z, Peterson J et al (2016) Effects of changing spectral radiation distribution on the performance of photodiode pyranometers. Sol Energy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2016.01.047
Wilbert S, Geuder N, Schwandt M et al (2015) Task 46: best practices for solar irradiance measurements with rotating shadowband irradiometers. IEA SHC Sol Updat Newsl 62:10–11
WMO (2017) Guide to Meteorological Instruments and Methods of Observation 2014 updated 2017, World Meteorological Organization, WMO No. 8.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vignola, F. (2019). Establishing a Solar Monitoring Station with Auxiliary Measurements. In: Polo, J., Martín-Pomares, L., Sanfilippo, A. (eds) Solar Resources Mapping. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97484-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97484-2_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97483-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97484-2
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)