NREL data set shows clouds' effects on solar power

UK Business News, UK Financial News (Sep 1 2011) Solar

1. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)has produced and made available a rich data set showing what happens, second-by-second, when clouds pass over a solar power installation. Seventeen measurement stations near Hawaii’s Honolulu International Airport on the island of Oahu collected data at 1-second intervals over the course of a year. The data set is of great interest to utilities, developers of large-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems, forecasters, system operators, laboratories and universities. By understanding the characteristics of cloud shadows that pass across a large PV system, utility officials can devise strategies to better manage those fluctuations so the grid isn’t adversely impacted. The sun reliably beams down on the Earth every day, and just as reliably clouds pass by each day, shading flora and fauna, buildings and mountains, for better or worse. (Read Full Article)

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