Nor-Cal Controls’ Tahoe® Met Station uses only the Best; Kipp & Zonen Instrumentation

Nor-Cal Controls’ Tahoe® Met Station uses only the Best; Kipp & Zonen Instrumentationarticle picture
Published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017 By Sean Keven, Technical writer / Proposal Coordinator, Nor-Cal Controls ES, Inc - Diamond Springs, California, 2016 - New solar PV farm projects require the use of meteorological (MET) weather stations to achieve and maintain efficiencies critical to power and revenue generation. Nor-Cal Controls ES, Inc. has meticulously engineered the Tahoe® MET station to meet and exceed the exacting demands of this new industry.

Additionally, a critical issue with renewable energy is the variability in power generation that it provides. Knowing how much power a given location may produce is critical to revenue generation and the timely availability of energy to the electrical grid. Therefore, Independent System Operators (ISO’s) are required to incorporate certain weather sensing devices into their project, as well as ensure that the information captured is reported appropriately and accurately.

From project planning to project completion, as well as throughout the life of a utility-grade solar facility, the Tahoe® MET station can help participating ISO’s to determine the following for their project:

• Forecast potential solar availability and generation for prospective project locations

• Confirm stability of power generation through time

• Detail increasing or decreasing efficiencies based on weather patterns

Nor-Cal Controls’ fully customizable Tahoe® MET station uses state of the art sensor technology manufactured by Kipp & Zonen to monitor solar radiation. The exacting demands of the solar power industry rely on the durability, manageability and sensitivity of Kipp & Zonen instrumentation. As Nor-Cal’s client base relies on our engineering and integration expertise, we have come to rely on Kipp & Zonen for all of our MET station instrumentation builds.

Our standard MET Station build-out for PV projects includes two Kipp & Zonen SMP11-A pyranometers, to measure plane of array (POA) and global horizontal irradiance (GHI). Not just because of the good quality and its ISO classification (Secondary Standard), but also because customers select Kipp & Zonen for reliability.

Nor-Cal Controls ES, Inc. is a full service controls and monitoring integration company for the renewable and traditional power generation industries. Services offered include engineering and programming expertise in a wide range of programmable logic controllers and SCADA/DCS platforms and accompanying instrumentation.

Find out more about the Tahoe® Meteorological (MET) Station and download the brochure at: norcalcontrols.net/Products/TahoeMeteorologicalStation.aspx

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