Abstract
Wind and solar energy resources are an increasingly large fraction of generation in global electricity systems. However, the variability of these resources necessitates new datasets and tools for understanding their economics and integration in electricity systems. To enable such analyses and more, we have developed a free web-based tool (Global Renewable Energy Atlas & Time-series, or GRETA) that produces hourly wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) generation time series for any location on the globe. To do so, this tool applies the Boland–Ridley–Laurent and Perez models to NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) solar irradiance reanalysis dataset, and the Archer and Jacobson model to the MERRA wind reanalysis dataset to produce resource and power data, for a given technology’s power curve. This paper reviews solar and wind resource datasets and models, describes the employed algorithms, and introduces the web-based tool.
Highlights
Global wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity have been growing rapidly, reaching 432 GW for wind [1] and 180 GWp for solar [2] in 2015. With this rapid deployment of variable renewable energy (VRE) resources, a greater understanding of their spatial–temporal nature is desirable for resource characterizations, grid integration analyses, and project development planning
While commercial datasets including Meteonorm [3], SolarGIS [4], and Vaisala [5] provide improved resolution, they are costly for preliminary analyses or research applications. This paper closes this gap by publishing a free tool for downloading hourly, global wind and solar PV generation time series, called GRETA
This paper summarizes therely models thathistorical convertmeteorological meteorologicaltime dataseries intodata generation data, This paper summarizes the models that convert meteorological data into generation data, reviews reviews previous validations of the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalysis data, and introduces the freely available web previous validations of theofMERRA
Summary
Global wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity have been growing rapidly, reaching 432 GW for wind [1] and 180 GWp for solar [2] in 2015. While commercial datasets including Meteonorm [3], SolarGIS [4], and Vaisala [5] provide improved resolution, they are costly for preliminary analyses or research applications This paper closes this gap by publishing a free tool for downloading hourly, global wind and solar PV generation time series, called GRETA Optimizing battery storage focused on generating VRE integration alternatives [21] Such modelling exercises, which have been system design. VRE integration alternatives modelling energy exercises, which have been including reviewed resource potential are an essential step[21]. Longer-term modelling exercises, which explore the used for a variety of VRE integration analyses, for example, to determine the optimal procurement of implications of climate change on future energy systems, often rely on long historical reserves [26].
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