Towards the Development of a Low-Cost Irradiance Nowcasting Sky Imager
Solar resource assessment is fundamental to reduce the risk in selecting the solar power-plants’ location; also for designing the appropriate solar-energy conversion technology and operating new sources of solar-power generation. Having a reliable methodology for solar irradiance forecasti...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-03-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/6/1131 |
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| author | Luis Valentín Manuel I. Peña-Cruz Daniela Moctezuma Cesar M. Peña-Martínez Carlos A. Pineda-Arellano Arturo Díaz-Ponce |
| author_facet | Luis Valentín Manuel I. Peña-Cruz Daniela Moctezuma Cesar M. Peña-Martínez Carlos A. Pineda-Arellano Arturo Díaz-Ponce |
| author_sort | Luis Valentín |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Solar resource assessment is fundamental to reduce the risk in selecting the solar power-plants’ location; also for designing the appropriate solar-energy conversion technology and operating new sources of solar-power generation. Having a reliable methodology for solar irradiance forecasting allows accurately identifying variations in the plant energy production and, as a consequence, determining improvements in energy supply strategies. A new trend for solar resource assessment is based on the analysis of the sky dynamics by processing a set of images of the sky dome. In this paper, a methodology for processing the sky dome images to obtain the position of the Sun is presented; this parameter is relevant to compute the solar irradiance implemented in solar resource assessment. This methodology is based on the implementation of several techniques in order to achieve a combined, fast, and robust detection system for the Sun position regardless of the conditions of the sky, which is a complex task due to the variability of the sky dynamics. Identifying the correct position of the Sun is a critical parameter to project whether, in the presence of clouds, the occlusion of the Sun is occurring, which is essential in short-term solar resource assessment, the so-called irradiance nowcasting. The experimental results confirm that the proposed methodology performs well in the detection of the position of the Sun not only in a clear-sky day, but also in a cloudy one. The proposed methodology is also a reliable tool to cover the dynamics of the sky. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T04:57:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1a81dda4cb944e4488e967537a19e0f6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T04:57:43Z |
| publishDate | 2019-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-1a81dda4cb944e4488e967537a19e0f62022-12-21T23:58:51ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172019-03-0196113110.3390/app9061131app9061131Towards the Development of a Low-Cost Irradiance Nowcasting Sky ImagerLuis Valentín0Manuel I. Peña-Cruz1Daniela Moctezuma2Cesar M. Peña-Martínez3Carlos A. Pineda-Arellano4Arturo Díaz-Ponce5CONACYT—Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Unidad de Aguascalientes, Prol. Constitución 607, Reserva Loma Bonita, Aguascalientes 20200, MexicoCONACYT—Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Unidad de Aguascalientes, Prol. Constitución 607, Reserva Loma Bonita, Aguascalientes 20200, MexicoCONACYT—Centro de Investigación en Ciencias de Información Geoespacial A.C., 117 Circuito Tecnopolo Norte Col. Tecnopolo Pocitos II, Aguascalientes 20313, MexicoCONACYT—Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Unidad de Aguascalientes, Prol. Constitución 607, Reserva Loma Bonita, Aguascalientes 20200, MexicoCONACYT—Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Unidad de Aguascalientes, Prol. Constitución 607, Reserva Loma Bonita, Aguascalientes 20200, MexicoCONACYT—Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Unidad de Aguascalientes, Prol. Constitución 607, Reserva Loma Bonita, Aguascalientes 20200, MexicoSolar resource assessment is fundamental to reduce the risk in selecting the solar power-plants’ location; also for designing the appropriate solar-energy conversion technology and operating new sources of solar-power generation. Having a reliable methodology for solar irradiance forecasting allows accurately identifying variations in the plant energy production and, as a consequence, determining improvements in energy supply strategies. A new trend for solar resource assessment is based on the analysis of the sky dynamics by processing a set of images of the sky dome. In this paper, a methodology for processing the sky dome images to obtain the position of the Sun is presented; this parameter is relevant to compute the solar irradiance implemented in solar resource assessment. This methodology is based on the implementation of several techniques in order to achieve a combined, fast, and robust detection system for the Sun position regardless of the conditions of the sky, which is a complex task due to the variability of the sky dynamics. Identifying the correct position of the Sun is a critical parameter to project whether, in the presence of clouds, the occlusion of the Sun is occurring, which is essential in short-term solar resource assessment, the so-called irradiance nowcasting. The experimental results confirm that the proposed methodology performs well in the detection of the position of the Sun not only in a clear-sky day, but also in a cloudy one. The proposed methodology is also a reliable tool to cover the dynamics of the sky.http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/6/1131irradiance nowcastingSun detectionsky dynamicsimage processingparticle filtering |
| spellingShingle | Luis Valentín Manuel I. Peña-Cruz Daniela Moctezuma Cesar M. Peña-Martínez Carlos A. Pineda-Arellano Arturo Díaz-Ponce Towards the Development of a Low-Cost Irradiance Nowcasting Sky Imager Applied Sciences irradiance nowcasting Sun detection sky dynamics image processing particle filtering |
| title | Towards the Development of a Low-Cost Irradiance Nowcasting Sky Imager |
| title_full | Towards the Development of a Low-Cost Irradiance Nowcasting Sky Imager |
| title_fullStr | Towards the Development of a Low-Cost Irradiance Nowcasting Sky Imager |
| title_full_unstemmed | Towards the Development of a Low-Cost Irradiance Nowcasting Sky Imager |
| title_short | Towards the Development of a Low-Cost Irradiance Nowcasting Sky Imager |
| title_sort | towards the development of a low cost irradiance nowcasting sky imager |
| topic | irradiance nowcasting Sun detection sky dynamics image processing particle filtering |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/6/1131 |
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