UseofMERRA-2intheNationalSolarRadiationDatabaseandBeyond

Dr.ManajitSengupta,AnthonyLopez,andAronHabte

NASAGoddardJune19,2016

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• NationalSolarRadiationDatabase(NSRDB)• PhysicalSolarModel(PSM)intheNSRDB• DatasetsrequiredfortheNSRDB• WhyMERRA-2isusedintheNSRDB?• UseofNSRDBingeneral• UseofNSRDBatNREL• Wishlistforfutureuse.

Outline

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• TheNSRDBseekstoadvanceourknowledgeofsolarradiationanditsapplicationforrenewableenergyandbeyond.

• TheNSRDBprovidesaseriallycompletedatabaseofsolarirradianceandmeteorological informationacrosstheUnitedStatesandinagrowingnumberofinternationallocations.

• TheNSRDBprovides18 years(+TypicalMeteorologicalYear)ofhalf-hourlydataata4x4-kmspatialresolution.

• TheNSRDBusesthephysics-basedmodel,thePSM.

NationalSolarRadiationDatabase

https://nsrdb.nrel.gov

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PhysicalSolarModelFramework

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DataSetsintheNSRDB

• MERRA-2– Atmosphericpressure– Surfacealbedo– Aerosols

• Aerosolopticalthickness• Singlescatteringalbedo• AerosolAngstromparameter.

– Totalozone– Precipitablewater.

• GOES(PATMOS-Xretrievals)– Cloudeffectiveradius– Cloudopticaldepth– Cloudtype.

• ModerateResolutionImagingSpectroradiometer/NationalSnowandIceDataCenter– Surfacealbedo.

• Globalhorizontalirradiance(GHI)• Directnormalirradiance(DNI)• Diffusehorizontalirradiance(DHI)• Clear-skyGHI,DNI,andDHI• Cloudtype• Dewpoint*• Airtemperature*• Atmosphericpressure*• Relativehumidity*• Solarzenithangle• Precipitablewater• Winddirection*• Windspeed.*

UsedinthePSM: DeliveredtothePublic:

*Source:MERRA-2

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Temperature

Pressure

WindSpeed

PrecipitableWater

EvaluationofMeteorologicalDataforUseintheNSRDB

CFSR NARR MERRA

MERRAdatawerefoundtohavelowerroot-mean-squareerror(RMSE)comparedtoCFSR*andNARR*.

Comparisonwith216stationsfor2006–2012period.*ClimateForecastSystemReanalysis(CFSR)*NorthAmericanRegionalReanalysis(NARR)

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Usesinclude• Solarenergyprospecting• Solargeneratordesign• Cancerresearch• Educationandgeneralresearch• Powersystemmodelingand

planning• Microgridandrural

electrification• Solarvariability• Climatechangeresearch• Forecasting• Andmore…

HowIstheNSRDBUsed?

TheNSRDBandthusMERRA-2areusedbyavarietyofpublicandprivateorganizations.

TheNSRDBhasbecomeaheavilyuseddatasetinlessthantwoyearsofdeployment.Innovativesmallcompaniesaresignificantusers,leadingtoareductioninbarrierstosolardevelopment.Morethan$20millionininternalNRELresearchongridintegration,energymodeling,resourceplanning,andproductioncostmodeling arefacilitatedbytheNSRDB.

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• Grid-planningmodeling(ReEDS,RPM)

• Gridoperationsmodeling(PLEXOS)

• DistributedGenerationMarketDemandmodeling(dGen)

• Techno-economicassessment(reV)

• Performanceandfinancialmodeling(SAM).

HowIstheNSRDBUsedatNREL?

LargeanalysisandvisionstudiesuseavarietyofmodelsthatusetheNSRDB:

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• Standardizedorconsensusmethodologyforspatialdownscalingofthe~0.5-degreeMERRA-2data

• Increaseinspatialresolution

• Additionofdatasets:o Dewpointo Relativehumidityo Surfaceelevationinformation.

OurWishListforMERRA-2andBeyond

Dr.ManajitSenguptaManajit.Sengupta@nrel.gov

http://nsrdb.nrel.gov