An Assessment of the Influences of Clouds on the Solar Photovoltaic Potential over China
Clouds are important modulators of the solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface. However, the impacts of cloud properties other than cloud cover are seldom mentioned. By combining the satellite-retrieved cloud properties, the latest radiative transfer model, and an advanced PVLIB-python software...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-01-01
|
| Series: | Remote Sensing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/1/258 |
| _version_ | 1827597134576222208 |
|---|---|
| author | Yuhui Jiang Bingqi Yi |
| author_facet | Yuhui Jiang Bingqi Yi |
| author_sort | Yuhui Jiang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Clouds are important modulators of the solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface. However, the impacts of cloud properties other than cloud cover are seldom mentioned. By combining the satellite-retrieved cloud properties, the latest radiative transfer model, and an advanced PVLIB-python software for solar photovoltaic (PV) estimation, the impacts of different types of clouds on the maximum available solar PV potential (measured with the plane-of-array-irradiance, POAI) are quantified. The impacts of ice and liquid water clouds are found to be the highest on Tibetan Plateau over western China in spring, and central and southern China in winter, respectively. The reduction of POAI by liquid water clouds is almost twice of that by ice clouds except for spring. It is found that the POAI can be reduced by 27–34% by all clouds (ice + liquid water clouds) in different seasons. The sensitivities of the solar PV potential to the changes in cloud properties including the cloud fraction, cloud top pressure, cloud effective radius, and cloud water path are also analyzed. Three kinds of settings of PV panel tilting, namely fixed tilt, one-axis tracking, and two-axis tracking, are considered. It is found that the cloud properties are essential to estimate the solar PV potentials, especially for the cloud fraction. The attenuation of solar radiation by clouds are growingly larger as the solar plane tilting settings get more complicated. The outlook of solar PV potential is quite variable as the changes in cloud properties are highly uncertain in the future climate scenarios. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:24:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e398b353351b4a0889db50a28151b2e0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:24:55Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-e398b353351b4a0889db50a28151b2e02023-12-03T15:03:19ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922023-01-0115125810.3390/rs15010258An Assessment of the Influences of Clouds on the Solar Photovoltaic Potential over ChinaYuhui Jiang0Bingqi Yi1School of Atmospheric Sciences and Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Climate Change and Natural Disaster Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai 519082, ChinaSchool of Atmospheric Sciences and Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Climate Change and Natural Disaster Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai 519082, ChinaClouds are important modulators of the solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface. However, the impacts of cloud properties other than cloud cover are seldom mentioned. By combining the satellite-retrieved cloud properties, the latest radiative transfer model, and an advanced PVLIB-python software for solar photovoltaic (PV) estimation, the impacts of different types of clouds on the maximum available solar PV potential (measured with the plane-of-array-irradiance, POAI) are quantified. The impacts of ice and liquid water clouds are found to be the highest on Tibetan Plateau over western China in spring, and central and southern China in winter, respectively. The reduction of POAI by liquid water clouds is almost twice of that by ice clouds except for spring. It is found that the POAI can be reduced by 27–34% by all clouds (ice + liquid water clouds) in different seasons. The sensitivities of the solar PV potential to the changes in cloud properties including the cloud fraction, cloud top pressure, cloud effective radius, and cloud water path are also analyzed. Three kinds of settings of PV panel tilting, namely fixed tilt, one-axis tracking, and two-axis tracking, are considered. It is found that the cloud properties are essential to estimate the solar PV potentials, especially for the cloud fraction. The attenuation of solar radiation by clouds are growingly larger as the solar plane tilting settings get more complicated. The outlook of solar PV potential is quite variable as the changes in cloud properties are highly uncertain in the future climate scenarios.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/1/258solar photovoltaiccloud propertiescloud impacts |
| spellingShingle | Yuhui Jiang Bingqi Yi An Assessment of the Influences of Clouds on the Solar Photovoltaic Potential over China Remote Sensing solar photovoltaic cloud properties cloud impacts |
| title | An Assessment of the Influences of Clouds on the Solar Photovoltaic Potential over China |
| title_full | An Assessment of the Influences of Clouds on the Solar Photovoltaic Potential over China |
| title_fullStr | An Assessment of the Influences of Clouds on the Solar Photovoltaic Potential over China |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Assessment of the Influences of Clouds on the Solar Photovoltaic Potential over China |
| title_short | An Assessment of the Influences of Clouds on the Solar Photovoltaic Potential over China |
| title_sort | assessment of the influences of clouds on the solar photovoltaic potential over china |
| topic | solar photovoltaic cloud properties cloud impacts |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/1/258 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT yuhuijiang anassessmentoftheinfluencesofcloudsonthesolarphotovoltaicpotentialoverchina AT bingqiyi anassessmentoftheinfluencesofcloudsonthesolarphotovoltaicpotentialoverchina AT yuhuijiang assessmentoftheinfluencesofcloudsonthesolarphotovoltaicpotentialoverchina AT bingqiyi assessmentoftheinfluencesofcloudsonthesolarphotovoltaicpotentialoverchina |