Sun Spot One - San Luis Valley (RSR) |
Latitude: 37.561o North Longitude: 106.0864o West Elevation: 2335 AMSL Time Zone: MST |
Data sets currently available on SunSpot1 web site
- Daily plots and raw data files, are available from June 10, 2008 to November 08, 2010.
- Solar Calendars, are available from June 2008 to November 2010.
- Wind roses (monthly, seasonal, & yearly) are available from June 2008 to November 2010.
- Instrument history and meta data.
Pictures of instrumentation and tower at SS1 site.
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.A collaborative project between the San Luis Valley Developers Group and the Governor's Energy Office.