ARCHIVED INSIGHTS
- 2009
- 2008
INSIGHTS / THE VIEW
Solar Resource Data
Development and Financing Considerations (Part 1 of 2)
March 11, 2010
Solar power is generated from an intermittent resource and the output of a solar power plant depends to a large degree on the amount of solar radiation that reaches the solar collectors (e.g., photovoltaic (“PV”) modules, solar troughs and disks, mirrors, etc.). Knowledge of the quantity and quality of solar energy available at a specific location is of prime importance for the design and evaluation of any solar energy system. In a two-part series of Luminate’s View, we focus on understanding and evaluation of solar resource data. This first issue focuses on the source of the solar data used for analyzing projects and the uncertainty associated with the underlying data. The second issue will focus on solar resource simulations and statistical analysis of such data.
