Available sunshine

[Karl]

I have seen a publication or reference which had historical data for
'days of available sunshine' for various cities in the US. I would
guess that this is very basic information for designing a solar
photovoltaic or thermal system. Can someone suggest a source for this
information? I know the Weather Bureau has collected this information,
but they want $100s for it.

Thanks,

Karl

 

[Steve]

I have seen a publication or reference which had historical data for 'days
of available sunshine' for various cities in the US. I would guess that
this is very basic information for designing a solar photovoltaic or
thermal system. Can someone suggest a source for this information? I know
the Weather Bureau has collected this information, but they want $100s for
it.

Thanks,

Karl

You can download data files from:

http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/

For PV systems there is a solar calculator PVWATTS. You'll find a link at
the nrel site.

Steve

 

[[email protected]]

I have seen a publication or reference which had historical data for
'days of available sunshine' for various cities in the US. I would
guess that this is very basic information for designing a solar
photovoltaic or thermal system. Can someone suggest a source for this
information? I know the Weather Bureau has collected this information,
but they want $100s for it.

There is a tool for sites in the US based on actual observations from
several sites.
http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/codes_algs/PVWATTS/version1/


http://solardat.uoregon.edu/SoftwareTools.html has some tools that show the
sun path across the sky, and other reports, using the nrel data.

http://www.kyocerasolar.com/products/pv_calculator.html
is useful, and I recall uses the nrel data as well.

http://www.builditsolar.com
is just generally a good place to look.