Operational improvements in the performance of the SUNY satellite-to-solar irradiance model using satellite infrared channels

Validation and operational improvements to the existing SUNY satellite-to-solar irradiance model through incorporation of four of the geostationary satellite infrared (IR) channels are presented herein. The SUNY model is the gridded data set used by NREL in the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) and is available commercially through the Clean Power Research software, SolarAnywhere^® Data. This improved model addresses the present model´s limitations when representing the irradiance conditions in circumstances of snow cover, high ground reflectance and persistent cloud cover. Improvements in the satellite-to-solar irradiance model have been realized using the IR channels to detect snow conditions and modulate the model background to more accurately reflect irradiance conditions.