The National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB)
Abstract
The National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB), consisting of solar radiation and meteorological data over the United States and regions of the surrounding countries, is a publicly open dataset that has been created and disseminated during the last 23 years. This paper briefly reviews the complete package of surface observations, models, and satellite data used for the latest version of the NSRDB as well as improvements in the measurement and modeling technologies deployed in the NSRDB over the years. The current NSRDB provides solar irradiance at a 4-km horizontal resolution for each 30-min interval from 1998 to 2016 computed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) Physical Solar Model (PSM) and products from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), the National Ice Center's (NIC's) Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2). The NSRDB irradiance data have been validated and shown to agree with surface observations with mean percentage biases within 5% and 10% for global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and direct normal irradiance (DNI), respectively. The data can bemore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1490905
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1429599
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5D00-70139
Journal ID: ISSN 1364-0321; S136403211830087X; PII: S136403211830087X
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews Journal Volume: 89 Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 1364-0321
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; National Solar Radiation Database; NSRDB; solar energy; meteorological data; irradiance
Citation Formats
Sengupta, Manajit, Xie, Yu, Lopez, Anthony, Habte, Aron, Maclaurin, Galen, and Shelby, James. The National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB). United Kingdom: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2018.03.003.
Sengupta, Manajit, Xie, Yu, Lopez, Anthony, Habte, Aron, Maclaurin, Galen, & Shelby, James. The National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB). United Kingdom. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.03.003
Sengupta, Manajit, Xie, Yu, Lopez, Anthony, Habte, Aron, Maclaurin, Galen, and Shelby, James. Fri .
"The National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB)". United Kingdom. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.03.003.
@article{osti_1490905,
title = {The National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB)},
author = {Sengupta, Manajit and Xie, Yu and Lopez, Anthony and Habte, Aron and Maclaurin, Galen and Shelby, James},
abstractNote = {The National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB), consisting of solar radiation and meteorological data over the United States and regions of the surrounding countries, is a publicly open dataset that has been created and disseminated during the last 23 years. This paper briefly reviews the complete package of surface observations, models, and satellite data used for the latest version of the NSRDB as well as improvements in the measurement and modeling technologies deployed in the NSRDB over the years. The current NSRDB provides solar irradiance at a 4-km horizontal resolution for each 30-min interval from 1998 to 2016 computed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) Physical Solar Model (PSM) and products from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), the National Ice Center's (NIC's) Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2). The NSRDB irradiance data have been validated and shown to agree with surface observations with mean percentage biases within 5% and 10% for global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and direct normal irradiance (DNI), respectively. The data can be freely accessed via https://nsrdb.nrel.gov or through an application programming interface (API). During the last 23 years, the NSRDB has been widely used by an ever-growing group of researchers and industry both directly and through tools such as NREL's System Advisor Model.},
doi = {10.1016/j.rser.2018.03.003},
journal = {Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews},
number = C,
volume = 89,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {2018},
month = {6}
}
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.03.003
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.03.003
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