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PV*Sol - Irradiation and atmospheric Database sources


Javier Otálora

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Hi PV*Sol Team.


We need your help to clarify about meteo, irradiation and atmospheric data bases compatibility of PV*SOL:

 

Is PV*SOL able of importing database files like TMY2/3 Formats (NREL)?

What about importing data from SolarGIS or NASA?

Are Databases included in PV*Sol Premium?

Are there detailed LatinAmerican Data included in PV*Sol Premium?
 

Thanks

 

Javier

 

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Dear Javier,

the meteo database that is integrated in PV*SOL is from MeteoNorm (http://www.meteonorm.com/) via MeteoSyn (or own climate data handler). The climate data and the interpolation algorithms come from them, and they mostly rely on GEBA and WMO data (http://www.meteonorm.com/images/uploads/downloads/flyer_meteonorm_7.pdf). As you can see they have included 95 ground stations for Latin America and cover the rest with satellite data. In our software you can also interpolate your own climate data for any location on the world, using the sophisticated interpolation algorithm from MeteoNorm (via our tool MeteoSyn).

In PV*Sol you can further import your own data. The supported formats are xlm, dat and wbv. Xlm files are specific to the German Meteorological Service and Wbv is our own format, so they won't help you. But the *.dat format is basically a text file format that you can easily compose yourself from any data source like TMY2, TMY3, NSRDB, EPW, SolarGIS or anything you can think of.

You can find more information on how to compose these files here in this thread:

Hope that helps!

Martin

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  • 3 years later...

Hi there,

I have a followup question regarding the use of EPW hourly data and the simulation of shaded systems.  I am aware that the simulations run at 10 minute intervals with regard to shade evaluation, but if the weather data is hourly instantaneous, how does PVSOL evaluate the solar radiation within the hour, or does it assume the solar radiation is constant throughout the hour? 

Kind regards,

Lynette

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Hi LynetteOC,

sorry for the belated response. This is correct, the irradiation is assumed to be constant throughout the hour. This again illustrates the importance of simulations with minute values instead of using hourly values. Those minutely data can be synthesized for every location: https://help.valentin-software.com/pvsol/2021/en/calculation/irradiation/synthesis-of-minute-values/

image.png.1eee3652126e0481eb1874c38656d997.png

Best regards,
Frederik

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Thanks Frederik,

Thanks for the link to the research paper for the method applied to estimate the minute level data.  Its an excellent feature for the tool.  I have a couple more questions. 

a) Is the resultant minute solar radiation data (incident or other) available as an output (data file) in PVSOL  and 

b) is the highest time step for shading still 10 minutes.  I looked into it over a year ago and I'm wondering if it has been updated. 

I'm trying to decide whether to invest in  PVSOL in a research project on optimal inverter configurations for shading.

Kind Regards,

Lynette  

 

 

 

 

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Hello Lynette,

a) yes, it is! You can export the simulation results to a character separated values file: https://help.valentin-software.com/pvsol/2021/en/pages/presentation/#simulation-results

b) Yes, with the current 3D the highest resolution is 10 minutes. We are working on improving that for the new 3D

We would be very interested in the results of this research project. This could provide many opportunities for improvement.

Best regards,
Frederik

 

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Hi Lynette,

this list varies depending on your System type and the configuration you choose (Nr. of inverters e.g.). For system type Grid-connected PV System the values are:

Irradiance onto horizontal plane  kWh/m²
Diffuse Irradiation onto Horizontal Plane  kWh/m²
Outside Temperature  °C
Modulfläche 1: Height of Sun  rad
Modulfläche 1: Irradiance onto tilted surface  kWh/m²
Modulfläche 1: Module Temperature  °C
Open Circuit Voltage (MPP 1+2, Inverter 1 (INVERTER NAME AND TYPE))  V
MPP Voltage (MPP 1+2, Inverter 1 ((INVERTER NAME AND TYPE)))  V
Grid Feed-in  kWh
Energy from Grid  kWh
Global radiation - horizontal  kWh/m²
Deviation from standard spectrum  kWh/m²
Ground Reflection (Albedo)  kWh/m²
Orientation and inclination of the module surface  kWh/m²
Shading  kWh/m²
Reflection on the Module Interface  kWh/m²
Irradiance on the rear side of the module  kWh/m²
Global Radiation at the Module  kWh/m²
Modulfläche 1: Global radiation - horizontal  kWh/m²
Modulfläche 1: Losses due to Deviation from standard spectrum  kWh/m²
Modulfläche 1: Losses due to Ground Reflection (Albedo)  kWh/m²
Modulfläche 1: Yields through Orientation and inclination of the module surface  kWh/m²
Modulfläche 1: Losses due to Shading  kWh/m²
Modulfläche 1: Reflection on the Module Interface  kWh/m²
Modulfläche 1: Irradiance on the rear side of the module  kWh/m²
Modulfläche 1: Global Radiation at the Module  kWh/m²
Global PV Radiation  kWh
Bifaciality  kWh
Soiling  kWh
STC Conversion (Rated Efficiency of Module)  kWh
Rated PV Energy  kWh
Low-light performance  kWh
Module-specific Partial Shading  kWh
Deviation from the nominal module temperature  kWh
Diodes  kWh
Mismatch (Manufacturer Information)  kWh
Mismatch (Configuration/Shading)  kWh
Power optimizer (DC conversion/down-regulation)  kWh
PV Energy (DC) without inverter down-regulation  kWh
Failing to reach the DC start output  kWh
Down-regulation on account of the MPP Voltage Range  kWh
Down-regulation on account of the max. DC Current  kWh
Down-regulation on account of the max. DC Power  kWh
Down-regulation on account of the max. AC Power/cos phi  kWh
MPP Matching  kWh
PV energy (DC)  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Global PV Radiation  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Losses due to Bifaciality  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Losses due to Soiling  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Losses due to STC Conversion (Rated Efficiency of Module)  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Rated PV Energy  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Losses due to Module-specific Partial Shading  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Losses due to Low-light performance  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Losses due to Deviation from the nominal module temperature  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Diodes  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Losses due to Mismatch (Manufacturer Information)  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Losses due to Mismatch (Configuration/Shading)  kWh
Power optimizer (DC conversion/down-regulation) * kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: PV Energy (DC) without inverter down-regulation  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Failing to reach the DC start output  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Down-regulation on account of the MPP Voltage Range  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Down-regulation on account of the max. DC Current  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Down-regulation on account of the max. DC Power  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Down-regulation on account of the max. AC Power/cos phi  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: Losses due to MPP Matching  kWh
Inverter 1 - MPP 1 - to Modulfläche 1: PV energy (DC)  kWh
Energy at the Inverter Input  kWh
Input voltage deviates from rated voltage  kWh
DC/AC Conversion  kWh
Own Consumption (Standby or Night)  kWh
Total Cable Losses  kWh
PV energy (AC) minus standby use  kWh
Feed-in energy  kWh
Inverter 1 to Modulfläche 1: Energy at the Inverter Input  kWh
Inverter 1 to Modulfläche 1: Losses due to Input voltage deviates from rated voltage  kWh
Inverter 1 to Modulfläche 1: Losses due to DC/AC Conversion  kWh
Inverter 1 to Modulfläche 1: Own Consumption (Standby or Night)  kWh
Inverter 1 to Modulfläche 1: Total Cable Losses  kWh
Inverter 1 to Modulfläche 1: PV energy (AC) minus standby use  kWh
Inverter 1 to Modulfläche 1: Feed-in energy  kWh

Best regards,
Frederik

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  • 2 months later...

 

Thanks for this Frederik.  I notice all radiation units include time, kWh/m², hence energy measures and not instantaneous.

  1) Is the instantaneous irradiance integrated over the timeframe of choice by direct multiplication by the time interval?

 

On 4/30/2021 at 6:41 PM, developer_fw said:

Modulfläche 1: Global Radiation at the Module  kWh/m²

2) Looking at for example this output per module face, is it available for one minute intervals if the minute analysis is selected, or is it only available hourly?    3)  Is it available per module face or per substring face within module?

Kind Regards,

Lynette

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Hi Lynette,

when we simulate with an one-hour timestep, we can directly interpret the incoming irradiance values (in W/m²) from the climate data as irradiation values (in Wh/m²). When we simulate with one-minute values, you can see the output in the diagram editor or you can export them to csv on the presentation page.

grafik.png

Here it is in W/m², when you export, you'll get kWh/m², depending on your export settings.

The irradiation is only available on module level. The diffuse shading is applied on the whole module homogeneously while the direct shading affects the cells with varying intensity. But these different irradiation values (on cell or substring level) are not logged at the moment, it would lead to a huge amount of simulation data.

Hope that helps, kind regards,

Martin

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  • 1 year later...

Hi ITP Mantas,

GeoJSON is a format containing 3D information of building and so on, if I am not mistaken. The *.dat format that this threads refers to is for climate data that users can import into PV*SOL.

So if you wish to import a GeoJSON into PV*SOL, you should convert it to *.obj beforehand. I do not really have experience in doing that, so I can't recommend a software for that. But perhaps your GeoJSON provider can also provide obj files?

Hope that helps, kind regards,

Martin

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