Establishment of a broadband radiometric ground station on the South African east coast

Michael J. Brooks; Lance W. Roberts

doi:10.1117/12.826089

20 August 2009 Establishment of a broadband radiometric ground station on the South African east coast

Michael J. Brooks, Lance W. Roberts

Proceedings Volume 7410, Optical Modeling and Measurements for Solar Energy Systems III; 741002 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826089
Event: SPIE Solar Energy + Technology, 2009, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

A radiometric monitoring program for solar irradiance has been initiated on the Howard College campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa. This paper describes the establishment of the broadband ground station which employs conventional radiometers and a new type of pyranometer shadow band. The ZEBRA (Zonal Exposure to Broadband RAdiation) band consists of a perforated metal strip that permits the separation of direct normal and diffuse irradiance from global data with a single pyranometer. In this paper a time-based model of the new band's shading mask is described. The model is derived from a ray tracing exercise that accounts for ZEBRA geometry and solar position throughout a generic 365-day year. The UKZN facility lies at 29.9° South latitude and is part of a larger test initiative for the new shadow band that includes the NREL Solar Radiation Research Laboratory in Colorado. Data from northern and southern hemisphere test sites are to be used to characterize performance of the band under a range of conditions and for comparison with output from the newly developed model.

Citation Download Citation

Michael J. Brooks and Lance W. Roberts "Establishment of a broadband radiometric ground station on the South African east coast", Proc. SPIE 7410, Optical Modeling and Measurements for Solar Energy Systems III, 741002 (20 August 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826089

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