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The benefits of accurately measuring solar irradiance

February 21, 2019

Energy from the sun reaches the Earth’s atmosphere as a direct beam of radiation, but as it passes through the atmosphere some of it is scattered in all directions and is termed ‘di use’ radiation. On a day with a clear sky the total irradiance reaching the Earth’s surface is typically in the range from 700 to 1,300 W/m2 at local solar noon; depending on the latitude, altitude and time of year. The solar radiation scattered by the atmosphere is generally taken to be di use and of approximately equal distribution across the sky above the measurement location. On a clear day it is about 5% of the total energy received at the Earth’s surface, but almost 100% on a cloudy day. PV panels respond to light from a wide range of incident angles, so they can utilize this di use radiation to produce energy on cloudy days.

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