Cloud Radiative Effect Study Using Sky Camera
This incremental work aids solar energy generation and forecasting by quantifying cloud effects on irradiance.
The study investigated the impact of cloud coverage on total solar irradiance using a sky camera and weather station data, finding that higher cloud coverage significantly reduces solar irradiance.
The analysis of clouds in the earth's atmosphere is important for a variety of applications, viz. weather reporting, climate forecasting, and solar energy generation. In this paper, we focus our attention on the impact of cloud on the total solar irradiance reaching the earth's surface. We use weather station to record the total solar irradiance. Moreover, we employ collocated ground-based sky camera to automatically compute the instantaneous cloud coverage. We analyze the relationship between measured solar irradiance and computed cloud coverage value, and conclude that higher cloud coverage greatly impacts the total solar irradiance. Such studies will immensely help in solar energy generation and forecasting.