Abstract:
Solar irradiance data is a key factor in dimensioning
photovoltaic (PV) panel size and energy storage for solar powered
systems. Unfortunately, long term solar irradiance data is not
available for many locations, thereby affecting the accuracy
and effectiveness of dimensioning efforts. To address this issue,
this paper presents a model for generating accurate, synthetic
traces of arbitrary length for hourly solar irradiance. The
proposed model is based on an approach that combines daily
correlations in weather conditions affecting the solar irradiance
with finer-grained, hourly transitions in solar irradiance levels.
The proposed model has been evaluated by comparing various
statistical parameters of hourly solar irradiance against real data.