Lionel Ménard

A web service for controlling the quality of measurements of global solar irradiation

The control of the quality of irradiation data is often a prerequisite to their further processing. Though data are usually controlled by meteorological offices, the sources are so numerous that the user often faces time-series of measurements containing questionable values. As customers of irradiation data, we established our own procedures to screen time-series of measurements. Since this problem of quality control is of concern to many researchers and engineers and since it is often a lengthy and tedious task, we decided to make this screening procedure available to everyone as a web service. This service is the purpose of this paper. The objective is not to perform a precise and fine control, an objective out of reach without details on the site and instruments, but to perform a likelihood control of the data and to check their plausibility. This is achieved by comparing observations with some expectations based upon the extraterrestrial irradiation and a simulation of the irradiation for clear skies. This service is available to everyone on the Web site www.helioclim.net. It offers a very convenient means to check time-series of irradiation: data are input in a HTML page by a copy and paste procedure and the return is also a HTML page that can be analyzed in detail for the data flagged as suspicious.

Converting a successful research project into a sustainable service: The case of the SoDa Web service

Abstract Information on solar radiation is a critical issue in several environmental domains. The means for accessing information suffer from severe drawbacks. The SoDa project was launched (2000–2003, IST program of the European Commission) to bring solutions by an efficient use of information and communication technologies. Integration of information sources of different natures was realized by the SoDa Intelligent System. Surveys of users demonstrated that large gains in terms of efficiency, costs, etc. were expected by engineers, companies, agencies and research institutes. The SoDa Service was created in 2003. During the past three years, it has undergone several improvements, including works on the user interface and on the presentation of the services, all aiming at consolidating it with respect to access by users. Promotion efforts were made in the media, including TV. The use of the SoDa Service is increasing from year to year: in 2003, 10,000 requests were satisfied, in 2004, 17,000 requests and 27,000 in 2005. This article presents the lessons learned from the past years and the perspectives of the SoDa Service. We discuss the sustainability of the SoDa Service, the technologies used and the approach to customers, in the perspective of building a B2B merchant site.

The HelioClim-1 Database of Daily Solar Radiation at Earth Surface: An Example of the Benefits of GEOSS Data-CORE

The HelioClim-1 database contains daily values of the solar radiation reaching the ground. This GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) Data Collection of Open Resources for Everyone (Data-CORE) covers Europe, Africa and the Atlantic Ocean, from 1985 to 2005. It is freely accessible at no cost through the SoDa Service (www.soda-is.com). Several assessments of the HelioClim-1 data against measurements made in meteorological networks reveal that the HelioClim-1 database offers a reliable and accurate knowledge of the solar radiation and its daily, seasonal and annual variations over recent years. The HelioClim-1 data may help in qualifying in situ measurements and may supplement them, thus offering 21 years of accurate daily means of surface solar irradiance. Several published works benefited from openness, availability and accuracy of the HelioClim-1 database in various domains: oceanography, climate, energy production, life cycle analysis, agriculture, forestry, architecture, health and air quality. This demonstration of the benefit of the HelioClim-1 database draws attention to resources open to everyone such as those labeled GEOSS Data-CORE.

Benefit of GEOSS Interoperability in Assessment of Environmental Impacts Illustrated by the Case of Photovoltaic Systems

Assessment of environmental impacts of a power system exploiting a renewable energy needs a large number of geographically-dependent data and of technological data. These data are located in various sources and available in various formats. To avoid the burden of data collection and reformatting, we exploit the interoperability capabilities set up in GEOSS and combine them with other GEOSS-compliant components proposed by projects funded by the European Commission. This is illustrated by the case of photovoltaic systems. A Web-based tool links the various sources of data and executes several models to offer various impacts factors in different areas: human health, climate change, primary energy, and ecosystems.

Satellite-based estimation of surface solar irradiance

Databases of solar radiation values measured since 1985, which are of high interest in domains such as renewable energy, health, or architecture, are now freely available online.

The global solar and wind atlas: a unique global spatial data infrastructure for all renewable energy

The Global Solar and Wind Atlas (GA) is a unique Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) that aims to connect and bring together in a common platform the major databases and information sources around the world in the field of solar and wind energy. The initiative will be expanded to encompass all renewable energies by 2015, and will be the largest information source on renewable energy potentials ever created. It has been developed under the umbrella of the Global Atlas initiative led by IRENA in partnership with the Clean Energy Ministerial. The GSDI is based on open standards and open source and composed by fundamental datasets, a geospatial catalogue and a Web based GIS Interface. The GIS interface provides a way of interaction between users and the other components, including spatial data and tools. The GIS allows users to identify opportunity areas for renewable energy development by searching and loading data listed by the catalogue, overlaying information, and computing locally the technical potential of renewable energy. In this demonstration we aim to show the GA infrastructure and how users can interact with all the different modules with emphasis on the GIS interface.

Interactive Web-Service for Environmental Multi-Criteria Life Cycle Assessment of Photovoltaic Systems Worldwide

Photovoltaic (PV) technologies constitute a leading renewable energy source with a worldwide installed capacity of 135 GW in 2013 that may increase to nearly 4700 GW in 2050. To achieve this production level while minimizing environmental impacts, decision makers must rely at national level on relevant technological, economic and planning aspects which are highly geographically dependent. The access to performance data is a critical issue in the decision-making process and determines the successful development of efficient PV systems. For this reason, a new interactive tool is proposed here to provide the users with easy-to-use data and maps for the solar irradiation and screening level environmental results of representative PV technologies. The calculation procedures account for the geographic location and the PV system layout (installation, orientation and inclination angles). The tool has a worldwide coverage with a multi-criteria scope, both in terms of the numerous technological scenarios and of the wide range of environmental indicators. Moreover, the user is given the possibility to compare the PV environmental performance to the corresponding country electricity mix environmental footprint.