IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v75y2015icp135-143.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Comparison between meteorological re-analyses from ERA-Interim and MERRA and measurements of daily solar irradiation at surface

Author

Listed:
  • Boilley, Alexandre
  • Wald, Lucien

Abstract

This paper compares the daily solar irradiation available at surface estimated by the MERRA (Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications) re-analysis of the NASA and the ERA-Interim re-analysis of the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) against qualified ground measurements made in stations located in Europe, Africa and Atlantic Ocean. Using the clearness index, also known as atmospheric transmissivity or transmittance, this study evidences that the re-analyses often predict clear sky conditions while actual conditions are cloudy. The opposite is also true though less pronounced: actual clear sky conditions are predicted as cloudy. This overestimation of occurrence of clear sky conditions leads to an overestimation of the irradiation and clearness index by MERRA. The overall overestimation is less pronounced for ERA-Interim because the overestimation observed in clear sky conditions is counter-balanced by underestimation in cloudy conditions. The squared correlation coefficient for clearness index ranges between 0.38 and 0.53, showing that a very large part of the variability in irradiation is not captured by the re-analyses. Within an irradiation homogeneous area, the variability of the bias, root mean square error and correlation coefficient are surprisingly large. MERRA and ERA-Interim should only be used in solar energy with proper understanding of the limitations and uncertainties. In regions where clouds are rare, e.g. North Africa, MERRA or ERA-Interim may be used to provide a gross estimate of monthly or yearly irradiation. Satellite-derived data sets offer less uncertainty and should be preferred.

Suggested Citation

  • Boilley, Alexandre & Wald, Lucien, 2015. "Comparison between meteorological re-analyses from ERA-Interim and MERRA and measurements of daily solar irradiation at surface," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 135-143.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:75:y:2015:i:c:p:135-143
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2014.09.042
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148114006077
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2014.09.042?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kambezidis, H.D. & Psiloglou, B.E. & Karagiannis, D. & Dumka, U.C. & Kaskaoutis, D.G., 2017. "Meteorological Radiation Model (MRM v6.1): Improvements in diffuse radiation estimates and a new approach for implementation of cloud products," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 616-637.
    2. Dasari, Hari Prasad & Desamsetti, Srinivas & Langodan, Sabique & Attada, Raju & Kunchala, Ravi Kumar & Viswanadhapalli, Yesubabu & Knio, Omar & Hoteit, Ibrahim, 2019. "High-resolution assessment of solar energy resources over the Arabian Peninsula," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C), pages 354-371.
    3. Siala, Kais & Stich, Jürgen, 2016. "Estimation of the PV potential in ASEAN with a high spatial and temporal resolution," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 445-456.
    4. Psiloglou, B.E. & Kambezidis, H.D. & Kaskaoutis, D.G. & Karagiannis, D. & Polo, J.M., 2020. "Comparison between MRM simulations, CAMS and PVGIS databases with measured solar radiation components at the Methoni station, Greece," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 1372-1391.
    5. Aliana, Arnau & Chang, Miguel & Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Victoria, Marta & Andersen, Anders N., 2022. "Performance assessment of using various solar radiation data in modelling large-scale solar thermal systems integrated in district heating networks," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 699-712.
    6. Zappa, William & van den Broek, Machteld, 2018. "Analysing the potential of integrating wind and solar power in Europe using spatial optimisation under various scenarios," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1192-1216.
    7. Tahir, Z.R. & Asim, Muhammad, 2018. "Surface measured solar radiation data and solar energy resource assessment of Pakistan: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2839-2861.
    8. Kokou Amega & Yendoubé Laré & Ramchandra Bhandari & Yacouba Moumouni & Aklesso Y. G. Egbendewe & Windmanagda Sawadogo & Saidou Madougou, 2022. "Solar Energy Powered Decentralized Smart-Grid for Sustainable Energy Supply in Low-Income Countries: Analysis Considering Climate Change Influences in Togo," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-24, December.
    9. Ramirez Camargo, Luis & Gruber, Katharina & Nitsch, Felix, 2019. "Assessing variables of regional reanalysis data sets relevant for modelling small-scale renewable energy systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1468-1478.
    10. Coker, Phil J. & Bloomfield, Hannah C. & Drew, Daniel R. & Brayshaw, David J., 2020. "Interannual weather variability and the challenges for Great Britain’s electricity market design," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 509-522.
    11. De Felice, Matteo & Soares, Marta Bruno & Alessandri, Andrea & Troccoli, Alberto, 2019. "Scoping the potential usefulness of seasonal climate forecasts for solar power management," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 215-223.
    12. Xu, Xiaojun & Du, Huaqiang & Zhou, Guomo & Mao, Fangjie & Li, Pingheng & Fan, Weiliang & Zhu, Dien, 2016. "A method for daily global solar radiation estimation from two instantaneous values using MODIS atmospheric products," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 117-125.
    13. Urraca, R. & Martinez-de-Pison, E. & Sanz-Garcia, A. & Antonanzas, J. & Antonanzas-Torres, F., 2017. "Estimation methods for global solar radiation: Case study evaluation of five different approaches in central Spain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1098-1113.
    14. Madeleine McPherson & Theofilos Sotiropoulos-Michalakakos & LD Danny Harvey & Bryan Karney, 2017. "An Open-Access Web-Based Tool to Access Global, Hourly Wind and Solar PV Generation Time-Series Derived from the MERRA Reanalysis Dataset," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-14, July.
    15. Hernández-Escobedo, Q. & Fernández-García, A. & Manzano-Agugliaro, F., 2017. "Solar resource assessment for rural electrification and industrial development in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1550-1561.
    16. Paulescu, Marius & Badescu, Viorel & Budea, Sanda & Dumitrescu, Alexandru, 2022. "Empirical sunshine-based models vs online estimators for solar resources," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    17. Ramírez, Andres Felipe & Valencia, Carlos Felipe & Cabrales, Sergio & Ramírez, Carlos G., 2021. "Simulation of photo-voltaic power generation using copula autoregressive models for solar irradiance and air temperature time series," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 44-67.
    18. Jiandong Liu & Tao Pan & Deliang Chen & Xiuji Zhou & Qiang Yu & Gerald N. Flerchinger & De Li Liu & Xintong Zou & Hans W. Linderholm & Jun Du & Dingrong Wu & Yanbo Shen, 2017. "An Improved Ångström-Type Model for Estimating Solar Radiation over the Tibetan Plateau," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-28, July.
    19. Salamalikis, Vasileios & Tzoumanikas, Panayiotis & Argiriou, Athanassios A. & Kazantzidis, Andreas, 2022. "Site adaptation of global horizontal irradiance from the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service for radiation using supervised machine learning techniques," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 92-106.
    20. Bett, Philip E. & Thornton, Hazel E., 2016. "The climatological relationships between wind and solar energy supply in Britain," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(P1), pages 96-110.
    21. Drew, Daniel R. & Coker, Phil J. & Bloomfield, Hannah C. & Brayshaw, David J. & Barlow, Janet F. & Richards, Andrew, 2019. "Sunny windy sundays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 870-875.
    22. Pfenninger, Stefan & Staffell, Iain, 2016. "Long-term patterns of European PV output using 30 years of validated hourly reanalysis and satellite data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1251-1265.
    23. Hu, Jing & Harmsen, Robert & Crijns-Graus, Wina & Worrell, Ernst, 2019. "Geographical optimization of variable renewable energy capacity in China using modern portfolio theory," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    24. Luis Arribas & Yolanda Lechón & Alberto Perula & Javier Domínguez & Manuel Ferres & Jorge Navarro & Luis F. Zarzalejo & Carolina García Barquero & Ignacio Cruz, 2021. "Review of Data and Data Sources for the Assessment of the Potential of Utility-Scale Hybrid Wind–Solar PV Power Plants Deployment, under a Microgrid Scope," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-23, November.
    25. Isaacs, Stewart & Kalashnikova, Olga & Garay, Michael J. & van Donkelaar, Aaron & Hammer, Melanie S. & Lee, Huikyo & Wood, Danielle, 2023. "Dust soiling effects on decentralized solar in West Africa," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:75:y:2015:i:c:p:135-143. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.