An International Collaboration to Advance the Use of Solar Resource Information
Since the 1990’s an international group of solar resource experts has been undertaking collaborative research and developing methodologies and guidebooks to improve the understanding and prediction of solar resources for all solar energy applications. Traditionally this collaborative work has occured under the auspices of the International Energy Agency’s Solar Heating and Cooling Programme, and culminated in the production of the "Best Practices handbook for the Collection and Use of Solar Resource Data for Solar Energy Applications: Second Edition”, published in December 2017 by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This collaborative work now continues under the IEA’s Photovoltaic Power System (PVPS) Technology Cooperation Program as Task 16: “Solar Resource for High Penetration and Large Scale Applications”.
This webinar will provide an overview of the scope of work being conducted under Task 16, with presentations from representatives of each of the four Task 16 Subtasks: 1) Evaluation of Current and Emerging Solar Resource Assessment Methodologies; 2) Enhanced Data and Bankable Products; 3) Evaluation of Current and Emerging Solar Forecast Techniques; and 4) Dissemination and Outreach. Jan Remund, the Operating Agent of Task 16 will moderate the webinar and provide further background information on its purpose and scope. This will be followed by presentations from experts representing each of the Subtasks to describe more specifically the activities, recent accomplishments, and planned outcomes for the Subtask. Following these presentations, webinar attendees will be able to pose questions and comments to each of the presenters for further discussion.
Speakers
- Dr. David Renné, International Solar Energy Society (ISES)
- Jan Remund, Business Unit Manager Energy and Climate at Meteotest
- Dr. Manajit Sengupta, Chief Scientist in Predictive Analytics and Sensing at NREL
- Dr. Carmen Köhler, P3R GmbH
- Prof. Phillippe Blanc, Observation, Impacts, Energy for MINES ParisTech
Webinar presentations
Speakers
Dr. David Renné
Dr. David Renné President of the International Solar Energy Society since 2010 and Associate Editor of the Solar Energy Journal in the field of solar resource assessment, Dr. Renné is also the Operating Agent of International Energy Agency Solar Heating and Cooling Programme Task 46 titled, “Solar Resource Assessment and Forecasting.” From 1991-2012, Dr. Renné developed and managed programs on renewable energy resource assessment and analysis, and the integration of resource data into GIS at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). In his retirement, he holds an Emeritus position at NREL and Dave Renné Renewables provides support to both the public and private sector in planning and developing domestic and international renewable energy programs.
Jan Remund (Moderator)
Business Unit Manager Energy and Climate at Meteotest
Jan Remund is working at the private company Meteotest in Bern Switzerland since 1993. He is head of solar energy & climatology unit and holds a master degree in nature science (geography) from the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.
He’s a specialist in solar resource assessments. His main project is the global climatological database Meteonorm . Jan’s main scientific international projects were IEA SHC Task 36/46 (2005-2016), IEA PVPS Task 14 (2010-2014) and EU FP7 DNICast (2014-2017). In the IEA solar heating and cooling task 46 (“Solar Resource Assessment and Forecasting”) he worked mainly at solar radiation forecast. In the IEA PVPS Task 14 he contributed to three reports about solar forecasts, solar variability and grid integration. He will lead the new IEA PVPS Task 16 starting in July 2017. Jan Remund worked also in the field of grid integration of renewables including the calculation of 100% renewables scenarios in Switzerland and modelled effects of climate change for forests and cities.
Dr. Manajit Sengupta
Ph.D. Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University
Manajit Sengupta is currently the Chief Scientist in Predictive Analytics and Sensing at NREL and leads research in the areas of solar resource assessment, solar forecasting and PV Variability. He has over 20 years of experience in atmospheric modeling, assimilation and observational analysis. He is an expert in remote sensing, forecasting and analysis of clouds and solar radiation. Manajit was a member of the GOES-R science team responsible for creating products for the next- generation of NOAA’s operational weather satellite. He has also led research, as part of DOE’s Climate Change Program, to study the impact of clouds on surface radiation. Manajit has over 150 publications in top-tier international journals and conferences.
Dr. Carmen Köhler
Dr. Carmen Köhler studied Mathematics and Meteorology. She pursued her PhD in the field of cloud microphysics at the German Weather Service in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center. Ever since, she has worked in the field of analyzing and optimizing various numerical weather prediction models with respect to improving forecasts for the energy sector. After having worked at the German Weather Service for 8 years and for i-EM, intelligence in Energy Management, in Italy for almost 2 years, she recently founded her own company P3R GmbH dealing with programming, photovoltaics and public relations.
Prof. Philippe Blanc
Pr. Philippe Blanc (M) is the head of the research group involved in renewable energy resource assessment within the research center Observation, Impacts, Energy for MINES ParisTech (www.oie.mines-paristech.fr). He is working on the modeling of solar radiation and its assessment from in situ measurements and/or satellite images. His background is related to signal and image processing, data-analysis and applied mathematics. He is associate editor for the ISES Solar Energy Journal and he is the leader of the sub-task 2 'Enchanced data and bankable products' of the Task 16 'Solar resource for high penetration and large scale applications' for the PVPS program of the International Energy Agency
Publications: https:/cv.archives-ouvertes.fr/philippe-blanc