The Impact of Irradiance Measurement on the Performance of your Solar Farm
The renewable energy sector is booming, and yet the important concept and application of solar irradiance data is still poorly written into contracts which can lead to unnecessary and expensive disputes.
This has significant impacts on performance guarantees and the success of large solar installations.
Coronium is often engaged to assist with interpreting irradiance data acquisition and processing techniques.
Determining Solar Performance
Solar performance over time is influenced by several factors, including location, grid access, equipment selection, capturing of site data, continual monitoring and timely maintenance. Every element plays an important role to boost solar farm output., but in this blog we just focus on measuring and processing of solar irradiance.
Regardless of whether your solar design utilises fixed racking, tracking systems or a combination of both, the measuring and processing of solar irradiance is a critical service Coronium provides.
Measuring Solar Irradiance
Solar irradiance levels directly impact energy generation and associated performance guarantees of any high-performing solar farm, making it important to thoroughly understand how solar irradiance levels are recorded and used.
The number of irradiance sensors, their quality and their positioning across a large solar farm is key to ensure that operators have a full understanding of the varying conditions across the site. The larger the area of the site, the more critical this becomes.
Regular Pyranometer Cleaning
It is important that the pyranometers are regularly cleaned, preferably daily before sunrise. Cleaning records are to be maintained.
Processing Solar Irradiance Data
The irradiance data captured needs to be carefully assessed and methodologies agreed upfront as to how this data is processed.
If your solar performance guarantees and / or contract has grey areas in the wording such as “average pyranometer data”, “sunrise to sunset” and “missing data” we suggest you talk to our solar experts to tighten up the formulas and language to avoid expensive disputes down the track.
The path forward
Maximising solar farm performance is a journey, not a destination. It requires ongoing attention to detail, from initial design and contracting through to daily operation.
Want to understand more about optimising your solar farm's performance? Get in touch with our team at Coronium to organise a Teams meeting to chat about what makes a solar farm truly perform at its best.
