Site-Specific Solar Resource Measurements for Industrial Solar Applications

The solar industry can borrow solar radiation measuring equipment from the National Renewable Energy laboratory (NREL) as part of NREL's Solar Industrial Program. This program provides assistance to qualified parties in quantifying the solar radiation resource at prospective sites to reduce the risks of deploying industrial solar energy systems. Up-to-date solar radiation measurements permitcomparisons of fresh data with existing data to verify established data bases and also provide data based on actual measurements instead of on less accurate models. This report outlines the responsibilities and obligations of NREL and the solar industry participant. It also describes the equipment for measuring solar radiation, the data quality assessment procedures, and the format of the dataprovided.