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A Visual Support of Standard Procedures for Solar Radiation Quality Control

1Laboratory of Signals, Systems and Components, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University: Faculty of Science and Technology of Fez, Route d’Immouzer, B.P. 2202, Fez, Morocco

2Green Energy Park (IRESEN, UM6P), Km 2 Route Régionale R206, Benguerir, Morocco

3O.I.E. Centre Observation, Impacts, Energy, MINES ParisTech, PSL – Research University, Rue Claude Daunesse, CS 10207, 06904 Sophia Antipolis CEDEX, France

4 German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Solar Research, Paseo de Almería, 73, 2,04001 Almeria, Spain

5 Mohammed V University of Rabat École Normale Supérieure de Rabat, Rabat, Morocco

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Received: 7 Dec 2020; Revised: 18 Jan 2021; Accepted: 5 Feb 2021; Available online: 17 Feb 2021; Published: 1 Aug 2021.
Editor(s): Siamak Hoseinzadeh
Open Access Copyright (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Centre of Biomass and Renewable Energy (CBIORE)
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

Solar irradiance data from high-quality ground-based measurements are primordial for different solar energy applications. In order to achieve the required accuracy, quality control procedures are of great benefit. A variety of approaches   have been proposed. In this sense, some approaches propose a visual representation of the routine, while others only provide a time series of binary flag values, and do not propose any specific visualization of the flagged data as opposed to non-flagged ones. In this regard, the present paper puts forward a complete routine including several quality control procedures for solar irradiance measurements by providing visual support for these different approaches. The visual tool in question was validated using five years research data with 10 minutes resolution of the global, diffuse and direct components of solar irradiation collected from three ground-based weather stations in Morocco. This visual tool puts forth a more precise idea of the measurement quality by detecting various errors, such as time shifts, outliers identification; either with one or two components, or consistency tests between the three components of solar radiation when available. The proposed tool can be regarded as a means of improving the detection rate of abnormal data as a first step in diagnosing the prominent causes of error.

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Keywords: Solar irradiance; solar energy; quality check; ground measurements
Funding: Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique

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