Elsevier

Renewable Energy

Volume 71, November 2014, Pages 324-332
Renewable Energy

Solar energy resource assessment in Chile: Satellite estimation and ground station measurements

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.05.013Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We have modified the existing Brazil-SR model for satellite estimation of solar radiation in order to adapt it for the difficult conditions existing in Chile.

  • A network of ground stations has been deployed in order to produce quality data for model validation at strategic locations.

  • The data from both sources agrees well and is considered as an advance over public data sources already existing in Chile.

Abstract

The progress from the last four years in solar energy resource assessment for Chile is reported, including measurements from a ground station network spanning from two to three years of data, and satellite estimations from the recently developed Chile-SR model including two full years of data. The model introduces different procedures for the meteorological variables and the effective cloud cover computations that allow estimation of the global horizontal and diffuse irradiation on an hourly basis. Direct normal irradiation is computed by applying proper solar geometry corrections to the direct horizontal irradiation. The satellite estimation model was developed as an adaptation from Brazil-SR model, with an improved formulation for altitude-corrected atmospheric parameters, and a novel formulation for calculating effective cloud covers while at the same time detecting and differentiating it from snow covers and salt lakes. The model is validated by comparison with ground station data. The results indicate that there are high radiation levels throughout the country. In particular, northern Chile is endowed with one of the highest solar resources in the world.

Section snippets

The need for solar energy data in Chile

Recently, Chile has renovated his law of Renewable Energy promotion. The new regulation sets a quota for energy coming from renewable sources of 20% of the total electricity production to be achieved in 2025 [1]. This plan increases the quota previously established by the former governments (10% of electrical energy generated by 2024 [2]) and encourages power generating companies to incorporate renewable energy systems to the country's electricity system. Solar energy is currently at the

The UC-FONDEF ground station network

Starting in January 2010, a research project directed by the authors and financed through FONDEF grant D08i1097 has deployed a network of 13 ground stations, of which 4 are designed and operated under BSRN standards, and the remaining 9 are of three different configurations of RSBR. The stations designed following BSRN standards are composed of Kipp&Zonnen Solys 2 trackers, sun sensors, CMP11 and 21 pyranometers, heating and ventilation units, CGR4 pyrgeometers, CHP1 pyrheliometers and also

Chile-SR satellite-based estimation model

It has been noted before that ground measurement campaigns, although accurate, are expensive and prone to equipment failure. Besides, poor maintenance leads to data of higher uncertainty. Satellite estimation is cheaper yet sufficiently accurate, and it covers a large geographical area with adequate spatial and temporal resolution. The authors aimed at developing a satellite estimation model that could produce accurate and low uncertainty data for Chile by taking into account the different

Comparison: Chile-SR satellite-derived data and ground stations

In order to validate the model results, the satellite-derived estimations have been compared with ground measurements. Fig. 8 shows the comparison for clear days in Crucero and Santiago. It can be observed that maximum levels for GHI at Crucero (22°S) reach 1200 W/m2, while at Santiago (33°S) reach about 1165 W/m2. This indicates that in clear days the available radiation in central Chile is comparable to that of Northern Chile. It can also be seen that excellent agreement between satellite

Conclusions

Renewable Energy promotion efforts in Chile aim to achieve a power production quota of 20% to be met by 2025. This plan has sparked interest in solar energy among other renewable sources, with PV, CSP, and industrial heat supply plants being announced. Previous reports by the authors have identified several databases of solar radiation finding that significant deviation exists between sources, with most data from ground station measurements displaying unknown uncertainty levels, which

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge financial support from FONDEF grant D08i1097, as well as the valuable contributions to the project made by Abengoa Solar NT, Abengoa Chile, Dirección Meteorológica de Chile, Instituto Geográfiico Militar de Chile, and the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais in Brazil.

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