CEAZA is the Centre for Advanced Research in Arid Zones, a scientific research and technological centre, based in La Serena in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. It was founded in 2003 as a result of a joint project between Universidad de la Serena, Universidad Católica del Norte and the Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias with funding from CONICYT and the Coquimbo Regional Government.
Data analyst Orrego and Meteorologist Juliá work on a project to provide the Coquimbo region with a network of modern meteorological stations that generate information for weather forecasts and to support decision making in the agriculture and industrial sectors. For example, to provide advice on the drought that is currently threatening the region’s main activities; mining and agriculture. Both need a lot of water but the water is getting scarce.
The water table is extremely low and wells are dry or close to it. CEAZA expects that the drought will soon affect the supply of drinking water. In Chile long-term dry conditions greatly increase the risk of fire spreading, in April 2014 over 2,500 homes were destroyed in the hills around Valparaiso, and good real-time meteorological data can help manage the threat.
With a network of 45 weather stations they collect meteorological information across the Coquimbo Region. CEAZA combines this with satellite data, modeling and information from the national water agency to provide a monthly bulletin and forecast for the region.
Weather and climate forecasting for the region is very difficult to analyse and predict. There are many different micro-climates and they are right in the middle of two major climate systems; from the Pacific coast to the Andes mountain range. Chile is over 3,400 km long, but nowhere more than 240 km wide. National experts often have trouble to getting a grasp on it, that’s why it’s important to have regional meteorological expertise.
With the augmenting interest in renewable energy sources, there has been increasing interest in forecasts for weather dependant energy; especially now-casting is needed for efficient plant operation. Therefore they are expanding their network of solar radiation measurement locations. At the moment 7 weather stations are about to have CMP10 pyranometers and CGR 3 pyrgeometers installed. They aim to install SOLYS 2 solar monitoring stations at key locations. With this expansion they will be able to help the local private energy sector with their solar resource services.
Juliá and Orrego wish to answer to the needs of their markets and wanted to thoroughly understand solar radiation and its measurement. As satisfied users of Kipp & Zonen equipment, it was only natural that they travelled to Delft to meet the experts for a week of training. By the end of the week they had learned more than they had expected on all aspects of solar irradiance.
“From the available sensors to possible applications and reference stories from our trainer Clive Lee, we feel closer to the company and are impressed to see every department. With this training we have gained a knowledgeable and more informed voice towards the regional government. Our new expertise will make a smaller need for outside specialists improving the local expertise as expected from our government” says Orrego. “The first thing we are going to do when we get back to the center is to specify phase 2 of our project. Because we now know exactly what instrumentation we need!” adds Juliá.
More information about CEAZA-Met can be found on www.ceazamet.cl.
