In addition to the database of the data irradiances included in
BlueSol, There are many sources of meteorological data available from
the Web or by other means. BlueSol includes some tools to easily
import some of these sources.
NASA SSE (Surface
Meteorology and Solar Energy programme) are monthly data, average of
1983-2005 satellite measurements, provided for any cell in a grid of
1°x1° over the world (1° latitude is 111 km). See the site
of the Nasa for further information.
Also available from this database, but direct import not implemented
in PVsyst: irradiances or temperatures in daily values for any period
in the 1983-2005 range.
Although the SSE data within a particular grid cell are not
necessarily representative of a particular microclimate, or point,
within the cell, the data are considered to be the average over the
entire area of the cell. For this reason, the SSE data set is not
intended to replace quality ground measurement data. Its purpose is
to fill the gap where ground measurements are missing, and to augment
areas where ground measurements do exist.
The PVGIS databases encompass the following regions:
European Subcontinent
- Geographical data: digital elevation model (1 km x 1 km for horizon evaluation).
- Spatially Continuous Climatic data: monthly global irradiation
(from 566 ground meteorological stations, 1981-1990 averages from the
ESRA project), diffuse/global ratio, air temperature..
Mediterranean Basin, Africa and South-West Asia
- Geographical data: elevation model (1 km x 1 km or 2 km x 2 km),
administrative boundaries, Global land cover, cities, etc.
- Spatially Continuous Climatic data: monthly global irradiation,
from Helioclim-1 database (Ecole des Mines de Paris/Armines), based
on METEOSAT images (1985-2004), with resolution of about 30x30
km². Air temperature.