National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Iberdrola Renewables have joined hands to deploy the first of several solar resource measuring stations as part of a planned instrumentation network throughout the US.

The stations, located across Arizona, are part of NREL's Solar Resource and Meteorological Assessment Project (SOLRMAP), a collaboration between the national laboratory and the energy industry to collect precise, long-term solar resource measurements.

The information will be incorporated into technical analyses that seek to minimise the risk of launching commercial solar energy conversion projects, including concentrated solar power plants.

The first measurement station uses an Irradiance Inc. rotating shadowband radiometer for global, direct, and diffuse solar measurements. The radiometers will record strength and consistency of the sunlight at the station locations, and will collect wind and temperature measurements.

NREL will combine the SOLRMAP data with information at existing regional solar radiation networks to upgrade models supporting a database of 10-km resolution solar resource data across the US. The data collected will be used by NREL researchers and analysts to sharpen solar modeling, solar resource forecasting, and database development. The data must accurately represent the spatial (geographic) and temporal (hourly, daily, and seasonal), and spectral (wavelength distribution) variability of the solar radiation resource at different locations.