A novel instrument for cost-effective and reliable measurement of Solar Spectral Irradiance

A next generation solar spectral irradiance meter (SSIM) was installed at the University of Ottawa solar test site in September 2014, for ongoing collection of environmental and spectral data. The instrument´s performance is compared against a commercial pyrheliometer and a spectroradiometer during an eight month study where ambient temperature fluctuates from -30°C to 30°C. The cumulative solar energy measured by the SSIM over the duration of the experiment agreed to within 0.5% as compared to the Eppley pyrheliometer. A good spectral agreement between the SSIM and the ASD FieldSpec 3 spectroradiometer is observed, with the integral of the spectral irradiance agreeing to within 1% for both instruments. No degradation is observed at any point during this investigation.