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How to calculate output energy of PV solar systems? (/principle-ressources/how-calculate-solar-energy-power-pv-
systems)
How to get solar radiation data anywhere in the world for free? (/principle-ressources/how-get-solar-radiation-data-
world-free)
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This tutorial helps you to get free set of meteorological data from NASA database through the POWER DATA ACCESS
VIEWER online free tool.
Particularly you will learn how to get radiation values on horizontal and tilted surface.
First you have to connect to the NASA Surface meteorology and Solar Energy database for a particular location, here :
Power Data access Viewer : NASA solar radiation and meteorological data (https://power.larc.nasa.gov/data-access-
viewer/)
Select the "Power single point solar access" for data for a specific point on the map.
STEP 2 :
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Select meteorological parameters for which you want to get dayly or monthly values. To get irradiance on tilted solar
panels select : tilted solar panels/Solar irradiance for equator facing tilted surfaces.
See here :
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STEP 3 : RESULT :
You will get a link to CSV files that can be opened with Excel.
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You can get an example of files here : example of meteorological file from NASA Power Data Access Viewer application
(http://photovoltaic-
software.com/DG/files/NASA%20power%20Data%20access%20viewer%20example%20CSV%20solar%20data%281%29.xls)
In this file you get the monthly and annual average irradiance values for the following parameters in kwh/day.m² :
To get the annual sum of radiation you have to take the annual average (kwh/m2/day) and multiply it by 365 (days).
For our example (London) the annual horizontal global solar radiation is 2.79*365=1018 kWh/m2 per year.
Just follow the same methodology as above and select the relevant parameters
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- Meteorology (Temperature) : Air temperature at 2 m
- Meteorology (Other) : precipitation
- Meteorology (Wind) : wind speed at 10 m
You will get monthly and annual average values per day, just multiply per 365 to get the total amount per year.
Note that one degree of latitude represents a distance about 110 km on earth, same thing for the longitude, as the meteo
dataset is given for half a degree, the area covered is about a square of 4225 km2.
This is not so big for a first assessment of energy production, specially for area without mountains.
With the POWER DATA ACCESS VIEWER you can also get worlwide meteorological parameter interactive maps.
An example with the insolation world map :
To get a complete list of solar radiation, check the Solar radiation databases (/principle-ressources/solar-radiation-
databases).
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12/29/2018 links How to get solar radiation data anywhere in the world for free?
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Free online calculation and simulation of solar photovoltaic electrical power in Europe, Asia and Africa
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Solar electricity simulator : free worldwide online calculation of solar photovoltaic power
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