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Title: Evaluation of global horizontal irradiance to plane-of-array irradiance models at locations across the United States

Journal Article · · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [3]
  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. First Solar, San Francisco, CA (United States)
  3. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

We report an evaluation of the accuracy of combinations of models that estimate plane-of-array (POA) irradiance from measured global horizontal irradiance (GHI). This estimation involves two steps: 1) decomposition of GHI into direct and diffuse horizontal components and 2) transposition of direct and diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI) to POA irradiance. Measured GHI and coincident measured POA irradiance from a variety of climates within the United States were used to evaluate combinations of decomposition and transposition models. A few locations also had DHI measurements, allowing for decoupled analysis of either the decomposition or the transposition models alone. Results suggest that decomposition models had mean bias differences (modeled versus measured) that vary with climate. Transposition model mean bias differences depended more on the model than the location. Lastly, when only GHI measurements were available and combinations of decomposition and transposition models were considered, the smallest mean bias differences were typically found for combinations which included the Hay/Davies transposition model.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1235343
Report Number(s):
SAND-2014-16367J; 569685
Journal Information:
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 5, Issue 2; ISSN 2156-3381
Publisher:
IEEECopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 74 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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