Improving Solar Radiation Data in Brazil
Published: Monday, August 13, 2012
The Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) is part of the Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia of Brazil and one of their key projects is SONDA (Sistema de Organização Nacional de
Dados Ambientais). Among the goals of SONDA is the collection of meteorological and radiation data at several selected sites across Brazil. This network of stations provides a basis for the publicly available data necessary for the validation of climate models and for the assessment of renewable energy resources, mainly s
The Laboratory for Meteorological Instrumentation (LIM) develops robust and cost effective technologies relevant to the Brazilian National Institute for Space Science (INPE) missions. LIM supports the logistics for several research projects, including SONDA. High precision instruments from Kipp & Zonen provide the solar radiation data. The measurement sites include instruments such as the CMP 11 pyranometer, CHP 1 pyrheliometer, CGR 4 pyrgeometer and the 2AP sun tracker.
SONDA follows international standards, which makes some of these stations suitable to join the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), part of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The goals of BSRN are; to provide high accuracy data for calibrating satellite-based estimates of the surface radiation budget and radiation transfer through the atmosphere; and to monitor long-term regional trends at the Earth’s surface for climate change research.
Previously, new investment in the wide-scale intensive application of renewable energy technologies in Brazil has been inhibited by the lack of adequate solar and wind resource data and by the lack of tools to evaluate these data for energy planning. The necessary database is now available and will make an important contribution, not only to slowing down the growth in greenhouse gas emissions associated with the increasing Brazilian energy demand, but also to the guarantee of national energy security.
You can find out more about SONDA at:
sonda.ccst.inpe.br