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Sacramento Municipal Utility District (Anatolia)

Sacramento Municipal Utility District (Anatolia)

Latitude: 38.54586o North
Longitude: 121.24029o West
Elevation: 51 AMSL
Time Zone: PST

Data sets currently available on SMUD Anatolia web site Additional information or data

*** Notice: The RSR Instrument has been intermittently malfunctioning since August 2014, DATA SHOULD BE USED WITH CAUTION ***

A rotating shadowband radiometer (RSR) offers a lower cost option of measuring solar radiation resources for renewable energy applications. The RSR uses a silicon-based photodiode pyranometer to measure the global and diffuse solar irradiance. The control and data acquisition system then computes the corresponding direct normal solar irradiance based on the geographic location of the RSR and the time of the data collection events.

By design, the RSRs offer the potential advantages of lower maintenance and calibration costs because they use a single pyranometer with a diffuser for determining the direct, diffuse, and global solar irradiance rather than up to three radiometers with larger optical surfaces, more complex support equipment, or more maintenance-intensive support equipment. Their potential disadvantage is the higher estimated measurement uncertainty because of factors such as the restricted spectral response of the silicon-based detector used in the RSR. Postprocessing software to account for the limited spectral response of the silicon detector has been developed and applied the RSR data. This solar-powered system is simple to operate and provides basic resource information.

For more information about the RSR visit Irradiance, Inc.


Any publication based in whole or in part on these data sets should cite the data source as:

Andreas, A.; Bank, J.; (2009). Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD): Rotating Shadowband
Radiometer (RSR); Anatolia - Rancho Cordova, California (Data); NREL Report No. DA-5500-56513.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5439/1052554

For more information about this website or the data contact: Afshin Andreas