Importing Measured Climate Data

[Oguzhan]

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask a question about importing climate data. I have my own minutely measured climate data as an excel file and I want to import this measured climate data to PVSOL. 

As I know, there are 3 available file formats which are:
- *.xlm
- *.dat
- *.wbv

Now my question is as follows:
How can I rearrange my measured climate data to use it in the simulation. I mean how many columns and rows are necessary and which column correspond to irradiance or temperature etc. 

I hope I express my problem clearly.

Thank you

[developer_mh]

Hi Oguzhan,

 

right now it is not possible to import one-minute climate data. But we will include that possibility in the next major release (autumn 2016).

 

What you can do is the following: You can import hourly data e.g. using the *.dat format, which has to comply with the following scheme:

"Vicente Lopez AR"
-34.318,58.282,0,3,-30

Ta    Gh    FF    RH
24.6    0    3.0    88.3
26.0    0    2.6    84.2
25.8    0    2.2    84.2
25.9    0    2.6    84.2
25.9    0    2.4    80.0
...

After the import, you can set the option "Simulate the irradiance with synthesized minute values" in the "Options" dialog under "Simulation parameters". This will synthesize one-minute values from your hourly data. For more information on that synthesis see our paper here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/808509

 

I know this is not exactly what you want right now, but we're still working on an import. So, perhaps this workaround will help you out in the meanwhile.

 

Kind regards,

Martin Hofmann

 

 

ps: This would be the whole *.dat file for the import in MeteoSyn: Vicehour.dat

 

 

 

 

 

[Oguzhan]

Thanks Mr.Hofmann,

Yes this is not exactly what I want but this is also ok with me for now.

Thanks for the "vicehour.dat" file.

I am looking forward to the get your next major release in autumn 2016

Best Regards
 

[otaylan]

Hello,

I was working on the same problem. Even if I try hourly values in a .dat file (for instance, using "vicehour.dat" you posted or the one I created with my measured data), Meteosync says "Missing information could not be imported."

I would appreciate your help. Thank you!

[developer_mh]

Hello otaylan,

 

may I ask which version of PV*SOL you are using? I just did the import once again (with PV*SOL premium 2016 R3) and it is working as it should.

 

Best regards,

Martin

[otaylan]

Thank you, Martin, for the quick response! I am using PV*SOL Premium 2016 (R3) and MeteoSyn 3.0.0.63. This is what I am doing:

• From "Climate Data" under "System Type, Climate and Grid" tab, I open the "climate data selection"
• MeteoSyn windows shows up.
• Under "options" tab on MeteoSyn, I click "import file."
• Change the file format from DWD to Meteonorm.
• Select Vicehour.dat file

This procedure ends with MeteoSyn giving the error message of "Missing information could not be imported." 

 

Best regards,

Onur

[developer_ts]

Hello Onur,

during the import process meteosyn tries to connect to http://maps.solar-software.de/geoservices/FindNearBy/-34.518/-58.467 . 

"Missing information could not be imported." occurs when this connection fails (server down, no internet connection, firewall)

Is it possible to open the link in a browser?

Please look for the longitude, latitude and time zone format at http://forum.valentin-software.com/topic/307-is-it-also-possible-to-use-my-own-climate-data/?p=544

Best regards,

Thomas

[otaylan]

Thank you Thomas for the hint. It seems that is the problem as the map in MeteoSyn does not show up as well.

However, I am connected to the Internet, and I can open the link you provided. I also disabled my firewall and tried again, but I got the same error message.

Onur

[developer_ts]

For future cases: the IT department changed the proxy settings and it works now.

[Martin Hoydal]

Hello, I'm into a similar problem.

I have global radiation and temperature for a spesific location, Skjetlein (Norway) from a database (AgroMetBase) : http://lmt.bioforsk.no/agrometbase/getweatherdata.php

The data is available as: text with space bewteen collumns, text with semicolon, HTML, CSV, Excel and text with tab space.

How can I use this data in PVSOL? In PVSOL 2016 I can see *.xlm , *.dat and *.wbv . How can I convert my data?

Ta is temperature? Gh is radiation? What is FF and RH ?

 

Thanks for any help.

Skjetlein CSV.csv

Skjetlein excel.csv

Skjetlein semicolon.txt

Skjetlein spaced.txt

Skjetlein tab key.txt

[developer_mh]

Hi Martin,

you will have to convert the data into the format that you can see at the top of this thread. FF is the wind speed and RH is the relative humidity. From what I understand, this would be UM and FF2 from the AgroMetBase, my Norwegian is relatively limited though

The important thing is that you can only import one year of data, and it must be a complete year, with one value per hour. 8760 values in total, otherwise the import will fail. 2013 seems to be complete for example. 

The name of the location and the coordinates have to go in the header, like so:

Skjetlein
63.2027,-10.1802,512,-1,-30

Ta	Gh	FF	RH
4.2	0.0	2.0	69.0
2.9	0.0	1.7	77.4
1.7	0.0	0.2	84.4
1.4	0.0	0.0	87.8
1.3	0.0	0.2	91.0
1.0	0.0	1.4	92.7
...

 

Notice the coordinates are in degrees and minutes, not decimal, although one might think so from the formatting. The decimal coordinates of Skjetlein are 63.34085° North and 10.3005839° East, which gives 63°20'27'' North and 10°18'02'' East in Degrees, minutes and seconds. So you'll have to put 63.2027 and -10.1802. Mind the negative longitude, as the dat file requires longitudes in Western direction. Also note the negative time zone.

Another important thing is that you have only valid numbers in your text file. The AgroMetBase exports NULL if values are missing, which is happening for the temperature in 2013 for example. These missing values have to be filled up.

I attached a *.dat file for you that you should be able to import in MeteoSyn.

Skjetlein.dat

Hope that helps! If you have any further question, please don't hesitate to ask.

 

Kind regards,

Martin

[Diogo Carrilho]

Good afternoon.

I am currently trying to import hourly climate data into MeteoSyn, in order to use it in a PV*SOL Premium 2017 project.

Can you please tell me what those numbers after the coordinates mean, in the .dat file?

For Skjetlein (see last post of this thread), they were 512,-1,-30.

Thank you so much.

[developer_mh]

Hi Diogo,

the numbers after the coordinates are height in m above sea level, negative time zone (for UTC+2 write -2) and an internal flag we used in the past, but don't use it anymore. So you will just have to adjust the height and the timezone.

Kind regards,

Martin

[Diogo Carrilho]

Hello Martin.

Thank you in advance for your fast response.

In my data collection, I also have values of diffuse radiation, and I would like to upload them to the .dat file.

The variables that I can input in this file are just those ones (Ta, Gh, FF, RH) or can I work with more?

Kind regards,

Diogo Carrilho.

[developer_mh]

Hi Diogo,

no, unfortunately it is not possible to import the diffuse irradiance as well. But we have it on our list for the future.

In the new version of PVSOL premium (2018 R1) that will be released in the next days, there will be new models for the diffuse irradiance, so that you can choose which one fits your measurements best:

• Hofmann (developed by us, the new standard model)
  Hofmann, M., & Seckmeyer, G. (2017). A New Model for Estimating the Diffuse Fraction of Solar Irradiance for Photovoltaic System Simulations. Energies, 10(2), 248. https://doi.org/10.3390/en10020248
• Reindl with reduced correlation (only this model was available in previous versions PV*SOL®)
  Reindl, D.T.; Beckmann, W. A.; Duffie, J.A.: Diffuse fraction correlations; Solar Energy; Vol. 45; No. 1, S.1.7; Pergamon Press; 1990, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0038-092X(90)90060-P
• Orgill & Hollands
  Orgill, J. F., & Hollands, K. G. T. (1977). Correlation equation for hourly diffuse radiation on a horizontal surface. Solar Energy, 19(4), 357–359. https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-092X(77)90006-8
• Erbs, Klein & Duffie
  Erbs, D. G., Klein, S. A., & Duffie, J. A. (1982). Estimation of the diffuse radiation fraction for hourly, daily and monthly-average global radiation. Solar Energy, 28(4), 293–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-092X(82)90302-4
• Boland, Ridley & Laurent
  Ridley, B., Boland, J., & Lauret, P. (2010). Modelling of diffuse solar fraction with multiple predictors. Renewable Energy, 35(2), 478–483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2009.07.018
• Boland, Ridley & Laurent (2010)
  Ridley, B., Boland, J., & Lauret, P. (2010). Modelling of diffuse solar fraction with multiple predictors. Renewable Energy, 35(2), 478–483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2009.07.018
• Perez & Ineichen
  Perez, R. R., Ineichen, P., Maxwell, E. L., Seals, R. D., & Zelenka, A. (1992). Dynamic global-to-direct irradiance conversion models. In ASHRAE Transactions (Vol. 98, pp. 354–369). https://doi.org/citeulike-article-id:10576695
• Skartveit
  Skartveit, A., Olseth, J. A., & Tuft, M. E. (1998). An hourly diffuse fraction model with correction for variability and surface albedo. Solar Energy, 63(3), 173–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0038-092X(98)00067-X

Kind regards,

Martin

[developer_mh]

Hi all,

if you want to use Excel to convert the decimal coordinates e.g. from Google Maps into the pseudo degree.minute representation that is necessary for the dat file format, you can use this formula:

=(A1-FLOOR.MATH(A1))*60/100+FLOOR.MATH(A1)

Hope this helps, kind regards,

Martin

[Bernd]

Hello Martin,

How do I remove imported climate data?

 

Kind regards,

Bernd

[developer_mh]

Hi Bernd,

when you are in MeteoSyn, follow these steps:

• go to the list view of your locations,
• select the location you want to remove,
• right click, go to containing folder,
• delete the corresponding *.wbv file there
• go back to the MeteoSyn GUI, to the 'Options' tab
• click 'Update database'

Hope that helps, kind regards,

Martin

[Ammar]

I imported the measured data. Annual GHI from data is different from what is shown in project. What could be the reason. 

 

 

[developer_mh]

Hi Ammar,

there could be a lot of reasons. Most of the time is has to do with time zones or daylight saving times. Could you provide the data that you imported?

Kind regards,

Martin

[Endika]

Hello Valentín,

I'm trying to import my meteorological hourly data and I've experienced the following problem:

I've tried importing it as .dat Meteonorm file following this forum and PVSOL support but I've not been able to import it. The program shows that it's because of an error in the format (I attach a picture showing it). I am also attaching the meteo data I am trying to import.

Thank you so much,

Endika

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1V-NDObQ34yZNH0YULsJDX544wxcSLdfa?usp=sharing

 

 

[developer_mh]

Hi Endika,

there are some lines in your file where data is missing:

Other than that, the file should be fine.

Kind regards,

Martin

[Endika]

Thank you Martin.

I finally have imported the file but now I've faced another problem.

When I import minutal meteorological data and I try to simulate it minutely, I get the following error: "Error (MinuteSplitter: Input data and clear sky data are not sync.)

I've tried importing the meteo data hourly (to simulate minutely) but I get the same message.

I attach the meteorological data.

Regards,

Endika.

PVSOL_MeteoGUNE_mm.dat

[developer_mh]

Hi Endika,

in PV*SOL, you can only import hourly data. Data with one-minute resolution can be synthesized from it afterwards, but you can't import your own, I am afraid. When you import hourly data, and PV*SOL shows a hint that "Input data and clear sky data are not sync", it means that you irradiation data and the calculated position of the sun do not fit together. Most likely it is because of the time zone or other timestamp-related issues.

The data must be in local time, without daylight saving time switch, and right-justified. That means the timestamp from e.g. Jan 01, 11:00 refers to data between 10:01 and 11:00.

You can easily check if you imported hourly data is in sync with the sun position when you look at the imported irradiation and the elevation of the sun in the diagram editor. Search for a clear sky day, where the irradiation follows a nice bell-shaped curve, and see if the elevation follows approximately the same curve:

Here, as an example, these data are not in sync, since the peak of the irradiation comes approx one hour before the peak of the sun's elevation:

 

Here, the data are in sync:

 

Hope that helps, kind regards,

Martin

[tb11]

Hello,

I would like to import my own data but some data points are missing. I would appreciate an advice on how to solve the issue; is there a way to mark the missing data or you suggest using some interpolation method?