Crosscheck stations from Solargis validation report

[AdamRJensen]

https://solargis2-web-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/public/doc/Validation-Report_Global-Solar-Atlas-2.0_WB-ESMAP_Nov2019-1.pdf

As of today, Solargis model has been validated at 228 public sites worldwide. More than 20 different networks across the globe have been used by Solargis for the validation:

• Global and regional networks: BSRN, SURFRAD, GAW, SOLRAD, ESRL, NREL, FLUXNET, EC, SACC, SRRA, KACST, OPWP, SAURAN, IDMP, Ministry of Energy Chile, etc.
• Data from resource mapping initiatives like ESMAP and IFC (funded by the World Bank Group)
• Meteorological networks of stations at a country level: BOM, KNMI, AEmet, etc.

[AdamRJensen]

Site name Country GHI DNI Latitude [°] Longitude [°] Elevation [m a.s.l.] Source Climate zone Recently updated A Coruna Spain x x 43.3672 -8.4194 58 AEMET 3 No Adam Oman x x 22.2072 57.5230 250 OPWP 2 Yes Aggeneys South Africa x x -29.2945 18.8155 789 Eskom 2 Yes Agoufu Mali x - 15.3445 -1.4791 290 - 2 Yes American Samoa ASM x x -14.2474 -170.5644 42 NOAA ESRL 1 No Amman Jordan x - 32.0247 35.8789 1041 - 3 No Armazones Chile x - -24.6346 -70.2426 2576 Ministerio de 2 Yes Athens Greece x - 37.9718 23.7183 107 IDMP 3 Yes BacNinh Vietnam x x 21.2015 106.0629 60 ESMAP 3 Yes Bahawalpur Pakistan x x 29.3254 71.8188 123 ESMAP 2 Yes Bamba Mali x - 17.0990 -1.4018 272 - 2 Yes Banizoumbou Niger x - 13.5311 2.6613 211 - 2 Yes Barcelona Spain x - 41.3858 2.1169 125 SOLARFLUX 3 No Bergen Norway x - 60.3838 5.3319 45 IDMP Univ. of 3 Yes

The above stations are missing (only checked the first page of validation sites)

[IoannisSifnaios]

@AdamRJensen I suggest we only investigate stations used to validate DNI (page 52 onwards), which is approximately half of the total stations included in this report.

If you approve all pending pull requests (in order to be absolutely sure which stations are already included), I am willing to take up the task. From a quick look at the DNI stations, I think that most of them are already included.

Thoughts?

[AdamRJensen]

I agree with this approach. The table of missing stations above is also only of the DNI stations - I fear we are missing quite a few stations...

[IoannisSifnaios]

The following stations measuring DNI are not included in the current list.

Site name, Country, Lat, Lon, Elev, Source

• [x] Adam, Oman, 22.2072, 57.5230, 250, OPWP
• [x] Manah, Oman, 22.6031, 57.6672, 345, OPWP
• [x] Aggeneys, South Africa, -29.2945, 18.8155, 789, Eskom
• [x] Helios, South Africa, -30.5011, 19.5607, 905, Eskom
• [x] Bukit Kototabang, Indonesia, -0.2019, 100.3181, 864, GAW
• [ ] Dicheto, Ethiopia, 11.9156, 41.5511, 431, IFC
• [ ] Hurso, Ethiopia, 9.6136, 41.6385, 1110, IFC
• [x] Freiburg, Germany, 47.9792, 7.8311, 275, IDMP
• [ ] Weihenstephan, Germany, 48.4000, 11.7000, 472
• [x] Geneve, Switzerland, 46.2003, 6.1316, 420, CUEPE
• [x] Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, 50.1830, 15.8330, 236, CHMU
• [x] Vaulx un Velin, France, 45.7786, 4.9225, 170, IDMP

[IoannisSifnaios]

Information on Oman stations here

[IoannisSifnaios]

Regarding the ESKOM network in South Africa (information was found here):

Eskom makes use of pyrheliometers mounted on trackers, with only some of their stations equipped with photoelectric pyranometers. Eskom data was reported to be of low quality due to a lack of regular cleaning. This is due to the remote locations of their stations in the Northern Cape.

Some information on ESKOM is here. It sounds like the stations had initially RSIs but they were replaced with trackers and pyrheliometers. They started operation in 2006, but it is unknown if they are still in operation.

@AdamRJensen Do you think we should include this given that a decent number of stations already exist in South Africa?

[IoannisSifnaios]

Information on Bukit Kototabang here.

[IoannisSifnaios]

Information on Freiburg here.

Although the station's coordinates are not mentioned, it is clearly stated that G;B;D are measured with a tracker

[IoannisSifnaios]

Information on some more stations in Europe was found here and here.

Most of the stations mentioned in the first link did not measure DNI and no information could be found on the instruments used for measuring DHI. Thus, it was assumed that they used shadowrings and were not included in the station catalog.

The stations mentioned in the second link are addressed in a new issue

[IoannisSifnaios]

The Geneva station mentioned in this list has been moved since 2010, so the mentioned coordinates in the SolarGIS report are not accurate. Information about this is provided here.

The new station is located in Carouge, on the Battelle campus (latitude: 46.176°N, longitude: 6.139°E, altitude: 432m), and has GHI and DNI on a tracker (Tier 2).

In 2010 a new station was added in Bernex (latitude: 46.172°N, longitude: 6.067°E, altitude: 473m), which measures GHI and has an SPN1 (Tier 2).

Both stations belong to the University of Geneva.

[IoannisSifnaios]

Information on the Hradec Kralove station here and here.

[IoannisSifnaios]

Information on the Chinese University of Hong Kong station here.