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In a new weekly update for pv magazine , Solcast, a DNV company, reports that the solar regions of California, Nevada, Arizona and West Texas recorded lower than normal irradiance in March, while higher irradiance levels were recorded elevated from the Midwest to the Carolinas and throughout most of Mexico.
The month of March presented an uneven balance for solar energy in North America, as the continent transitioned from a warm winter to the beginning of spring. The solar regions of the states of California, Nevada, Arizona and West Texas recorded below-normal irradiance, but March was a clear and sunny month from the Midwest to the Carolinas and most of Mexico. Analyzes using the Solcast API show peaks of 30% higher irradiance than normal in Illinois and Missouri, while most of the rest of the US had average or below average irradiance.
It was a bad month for Texas solar, as despite average irradiance, several of the states large solar farms were hit by severe hail storms that damaged panels. Even before the storms, fog caused by the Smokehouse Creek Fire, which burned through mid-March, lingered across much of the state, affecting clear-sky irradiance and increasing fouling of photovoltaic panels.
Western Canada and the northwestern US experienced slightly above-average irradiance thanks to a high pressure system that remained relatively dry through the middle of the month. This system did not extend far enough south to offset storms along the Pacific coast at the beginning and end of the month, which dropped the March average to around or below average for most of the month. southern coast.
The Midwest was sunnier than normal as moisture-filled frontal systems in the Pacific were somewhat blocked by the Rocky Mountains, causing higher-than-normal irradiance inland. Canadian and Gulf storm systems brought clouds that reduced irradiance to below average in both the Northeast (-20%) and the Gulf Coast (-10%).
Solcast produces these figures by globally monitoring clouds and aerosols with a resolution of 1 to 2 km, using satellite data and proprietary AI/ML algorithms . This data is used to drive irradiance models, allowing Solcast to calculate irradiance at high resolution, with a typical bias of less than 2%, and also cloud tracking forecasts. This data is used by more than 300 companies managing more than 150 GW of solar assets worldwide. |
