Expanded Weather Datasets for Photovoltaic System Modeling Including Precipitation, Air Quality and Wind

As photovoltaic (PV) systems become a larger fraction of the electricity supply, use of expanded weather datasets for PV system modeling becomes increasingly important. Particularly, a report from the Energy Systems Integration Group explicitly stated this need for power system planning and solar energy modeling. In this paper, we focus on two weather related datasets, namely, rainfall and air quality. Such datasets are needed for accurate PV system models including self-cleaning and soiling calculations, and more specifically for modeling agrivoltaic systems, which integrate crop and solar production. We demonstrate the integration of multiple types of datasets, including National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration precipitation data and Environmental Protection Agency air particulate matter concentration data. The results show that the different datasets greatly impact the PV system soling losses, and thereby influence overall PV production calculations.