Solmetric PV Designer™ adds advanced Meteonorm weather data
October 28th 2011, Sebastopol California
Solmetric Corporation announced today the availability of enhanced weather data within its popular PV Designer software, a tool for solar Photovoltaic (PV) system design, layout, and energy production estimates. Meteorological factors, including irradiance and temperature are key factors in PV output estimates, and incorporation of the meteonorm weather models by Meteotest will enhance the accuracy of the PV Designer estimates.
Weather data is enhanced both because more weather data sources are used, and because of the advanced processing used to interpolate data from these sources. Over 8,300 meteorological stations managed in global and regional databases have been combined and checked for their reliability. Usually, measurement data can only be used in the vicinity of a weather station. Elsewhere, the data has to be interpolated between different stations. The sophisticated interpolation models inside meteonorm allow a reliable calculation of solar radiation, temperature and additional parameters at any site in the world. PV Designer’s model also incorporates on-site shade measurements from the Solmetric SunEye™.
“We are very happy to leverage the in-depth expertise of the Meteotest organization into PV Designer,” said Willard MacDonald, President and CEO of Solmetric. “Combining this comprehensive weather data with accurate on-site shade measurements will further enhance energy calculations for our customers.”
This meteonorm weather feature is currently available in Version 4.6 of the PV Designer software, and the weather data is automatically downloaded for the given site. Existing users can upgrade at no additional cost and new users can download the software for a 30-day free trial.
About Meteotest
Meteotest provides scientific expertise as well as practical experience gained from work on a large variety of projects into its meteorological software products and services. meteonorm is a product by Meteotest and is a comprehensive meteorological reference, incorporating a catalogue of meteorological data and calculation procedures for solar applications and system design at any desired location in the world. For more information visit: www.meteonorm.com.