jranalli / cloud-advection-model

Implementation and demo for the Cloud Advection Model for spatial aggregation of solar irradiance.

Cloud Advection Model

Implementation of the Cloud Advection Model as described by Ranalli et al. Simulates the smoothing of irradiance timeseries by a spatially distributed plant based on cloud advection. For more details see these references:

• J. Ranalli, E.E.M. Peerlings and T. Schmidt, “Cloud Advection and Spatial Variability of Solar Irradiance,” 2020 47th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2020. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC45281.2020.9300700
• J. Ranalli and E.E.M. Peerlings, "Cloud Advection Model of Solar Irradiance Smoothing by Spatial Aggregation". (forthcoming, under review by Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy).

camsmoothing.py

The code to run the model.

demo.py

A demonstration of the model in action based upon a uniformly distributed 1-d plant.

demo_2d.py

A demonstration of the model based upon a random 5km by 5km distribution of points that makeup a plant. As the model relies on a 1-d representation of the plant, these points are projected onto a line representing the cloud motion over the reference point.

livermore.csv

Sample data is provided in livermore.csv. This dataset is a CSV file reproduction of the demo data included with the Wavelet Variability Model. Please refer to the source repository for the WVM in PVLIB MATLAB for info and license https://github.com/sandialabs/wvm.

Dependencies

Running the model requires numpy. The demo additionally requires matplotlib for the plots.