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WeatherSmart Report PDF

The WeatherSmart system uses real-time weather data and forecasts to determine if cloud cover is heavy enough to warrant flattening solar panels, rather than continuing normal sun-tracking. On cloudy days, data from solar farms in Georgia showed that sections using WeatherSmart produced more energy over the course of the day compared to sections not using it, demonstrating the benefits of the system.

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212 views4 pages

WeatherSmart Report PDF

The WeatherSmart system uses real-time weather data and forecasts to determine if cloud cover is heavy enough to warrant flattening solar panels, rather than continuing normal sun-tracking. On cloudy days, data from solar farms in Georgia showed that sections using WeatherSmart produced more energy over the course of the day compared to sections not using it, demonstrating the benefits of the system.

Uploaded by

Scott VP
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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WeatherSmartTM Report

Date:
March 1, 2020

Prepared by:
GameChange Solar LP
152 W 57th St., 17th Fl
New York, NY 10019
System Explanation

The Genius Tracker system responds to cloudy conditions in order to optimize the production of the system. Heavy clouds
diffuse the sunlight. When the sun light passes through heavy cloud cover it scatters making the average direction of incident
sunlight perpendicular to the ground instead of the angle at which it was originally coming in. This means that tracking to the
sun angle wouldn’t produce more energy and it is more efficient to rotate the solar panels flat.
The system uses real-time weather data and forecast data from redundant weather services together with a proprietary
GameChange Solar algorithm to determine if conditions are cloudy enough to go to WeatherSmart “Stow”. The system will
only enter WeatherSmart stow when it is already flat, either at sunrise or at noon. This is to minimize wasted energy as the
solar panels are already at the correct angle. At sunrise and noon, if the system detects that the conditions are cloudy enough,
the command will go out to the Master Controllers and from there to the Node Controllers to hold the panels flat. The system
will then check every 15 minutes whether the conditions are still cloudy enough to be in WeatherSmart stow.
Weathersmart Stow requires the level of cloud cover to be above the configured threshold at the time of polling and the
forecasted level of cloud cover to be above the threshold for at least the next number of hours as configured. The threshold
and number of forecasted hours are chosen based on GameChange research and development such that the system is
responsive enough but does not chase diffuse lighting conditions in partly cloudy conditions.

Real World Example

This is a comparison of 2 pairs of inverter blocks of the Genius Tracker at a site in Georgia in June of 2019. One pair of
blocks, SA1 and SA3 the other was NA1 and NA2. For the first pair of blocks, SA1 has WeatherSmart enabled, the other
section, SA3, does not. For the second pair of blocks, NA1 has WeatherSmart enabled, the other section, NA2, does not. The
pairs were first compared on a sample of sunny days, both tracking normally. This was done to confirm they have comparable
power outputs under normal conditions.

Section Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5


production Production Production Production Production
(KWh) (KWh) (KWh) (KWh) (KWh)
SA1 219948 158988 150635 154003 149201
SA3 220969 149534 142104 144901 149004
Table 1: Sunny Day Comparison: Block Pair 1

Section Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5


production Production Production Production Production
(KWh) (KWh) (KWh) (KWh) (KWh)
NA1 219795 152533 144027 147318 143317
NA2 219034 149966 143937 143879 149966
Table 2: Sunny Day Comparison: Block Pair 2

This shows that the two sections have very similar power outputs and can be used effectively to compare the production of a
section that is true-tracking to a section that is using WeatherSmart

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The following data was recorded on a cloudy day. In Figure 1 we have the plot of active power of SA1 (weathersmart) and
SA3 (typical tracking) on a cloudy day. Qualitatively, SA1 looks to be producing more than SA3.

Figure 1: Power of SA1 and SA2

To get confirmation that SA1 is producing more than SA3 the cumulative power was calculated for each section. Figure 2
shows how this sum grows throughout the day, with SA1 producing more over the course of the day.

Figure 2: Cumulative Power of SA1 and SA3

Page 3 of 4
Figures 3 and 4 repeat this analysis for sections NA1 (weathersmart) and NA2 (typical tracking) on a cloudy day.

Figure 3: NA1 and NA2 Power

Figure 4: Cumulative Power for NA1 and NA2

Based on the above data, it is clear that the energy output of the solar array can be increased through the use of the
WeatherSmart system.

Page 4 of 4

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