the evidence for climate change is now incontrovertible
Several actions point to the fact that a more climate-resilient economy and society must be built in each country, such as measures aimed at reducing fuel consumption for energy production, emphasis on energy efficiency and conservation as well as on power generation from renewable sources such as the Sun.
FOR ACCURATE SURFACE SOLAR INSOLATION FORECASTS, WE NEED TO UNRAVEL THE COMPLEXITY OF THE ATMOSPHERE
Our research effort has been geared toward providing a solution to this problem by developing an accurate and fast system for the calculation of surface solar radiation spectra at high resolution and frequency using Earth Observation data.
BEHIND THE MAPS LIES DEEP SCIENCE
We have developed a state-of-the-art system for global, direct normal and diffuse horizontal irradiance spectra at the Earth’s surface that include the effects of clouds, aerosols, ozone, elevation and Albedo. The total spectral information in each pixel is an analytical and reliable estimate of the solar power and energy, whatever the weather and conditions.
BEYOND CENTER OF EXCELLENCE
Within the BEYOND Center of Excellence, SOLEA introduced a nowcasting and short-term forecasting system for solar energy exploitation using advanced technical capacities of Earth Observation based services in combination with scientific measurement, radiative transfer and machine learning modeling results.
GEO-CRADLE PILOT
SOLEA designed, developed and applied one of the main pilot studies of the HORIZON’s 2020 GEO-CRADLE project, the so-called Solar Energy Nowcasting SystEm (SENSE). SENSE was a starting point for solar energy related investments, strategies and innovative high-end applications and technologies.
EUROGEOSS SHOWCASE
Following the success story of GEO-CRADLE’s SENSE pilot, SOLEA through EuroGEOSS Showcase: Applications powered by Europe (E-SHAPE) will evolve further the nowadays nowcasting and short-term forecasting techniques, as the so-called nextSENSE showcase. NextSENSE will be an holistic solar energy management system in support to the European energy handling entities and the transmission and distribution system operators.
DUST IMPACT ON SOLAR ENERGY
SOLEA contributed actively in the COST’s action inDust, by studying the impact of dust aerosol on solar energy management and planning.
The journey of a photon
This video illustrates the contribution of the Energy Working Group of EuroGEO for GEO Sprint to Ministerial action at the GEO Ministerial Summit in Canberra, Australia in November 2019. The journey of a photon story is a trajectory of a photon into the various layers of the atmosphere. Each time the photon cross a given layer of the atmosphere a corresponding EO data product is mention and explained (e.g. ozone, UV top atmosphere layers, solar radiation at ground level for PV application and up to roof top level). Main European EO resources are mentioned (e.g. Copernicus) and main EO funded projects supporting the Energy segment are addressed (e.g. e-shape).
2500000
RECORD LOOK-UP TABLE OF ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS
4500
GB OF BIG DATA PRODUCTION PER DAY
1500000
PIXELS OF INSOLATION SPECTRA & UV PRODUCTS PER MINUTE
180
MINUTES SHORT-TERM ENERGY FORECAST EVERY 5-MINUTES
capacity building
In each 3 x 3 km pixel of the Earth disc seen from the geostationary satellite Meteosat (MSG4), we monitor and forecast the global horizontal irradiance (GHI), the direct normal irradiance (DNI) and the diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI) spectrum over the wavelength range 285-2700nm every 5 minutes.
By applying erythemal weighting functions to the ultraviolet part of the irradiance spectra, the UV index, the estimated dose of Vitamin D and the photosynthetically active radiation is instantly calculated.
An active line of solar energy exploitation involves the development of high resolution solar atlases. The GHI atlas mapping applies to the PhotoVoltaic installations (PV), while the DNI mapping applies to the Concentrated Solar Power plants (CSP).
end-users
applications
This real-time service is based on the Solar Energy Nowcasting SystEm (SENSE) which was designed, developed and applied in the framework of the EU-funded projects BEYOND, GEO-CRADLE and E-SHAPE.
This service is based on the Solar Energy Nowcasting SystEm (SENSE) and has been implemented in the framework of the ERA-PLANET SMURBS project in order to support the penetration of renewables in the city of Athens (Greece).
This service has been implemented in the framework of Solar Energy Nowcasting SystEm (SENSE) pilot of the GEO-CRADLE project. The initial solar radiation database was retrieved by the EUMETSAT’s CM SAF.
This website was developed in the framework of the GEO-CRADLE project under the grant agreement No 690133 (HORIZON 2020). The objective of this website is the operational application of the Solar Energy Nowcasting SystEm for the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy together with a EUMETSAT based Solar Radiation Atlas for the region of Egypt.
The mean monthly solar energy maps of Greece are based on a 15-year climatology of the Direct Normal and Global Horizontal Irradiances (DNI and GHI respectively), while the spatial resolution is almost 5 km. The climatological radiation data are from the EUMETSAT’s Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF). Select the year, month, parameter and scale type for the mean monthly maps of Greece. By selecting the Atlas options you are able to retrieve the 15-year means.
the team
Panagiotis G. Kosmopoulos
Institute for Environmental Research & Sustainable Development
National Observatory of Athens, Greece
Stelios Kazadzis
Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos
World Radiation Center, Switzerland
Iphigenia Keramitsoglou
Institute for Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing, National Observatory of Athens
Yashwant Kashyap
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, India