Solar monitoring system for measuring solar radiation intensity

A solar monitoring system (100) for measuring solar radiation intensity comprising:

• a tracking unit (101) having movement about an azimuth axis (102) and an elevation axis (103) comprising, an image capturing head (104) mounted with first (120) and second (130) irradiation measuring units;
• wherein the first irradiation measuring unit (120) comprises a direct normal irradiance (DNI) sensor (121) and the second irradiation measuring unit (130) includes a diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI) sensor (131) and a global horizontal irradiance (GHI) sensor (132) affixed along the elevation axis (102);
• wherein the diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI) sensor (131) further comprises a shading disc (140) masking direct solar exposure thereon;
• and,
• a controller (150) that receives inputs from the sensors (121, 131 and 132) of irradiation measuring units (120 and 130) or a software program and is configured to control orientation of the image capturing head (104) so that the sensor (121) is always exposed to the sun, and the shading disc (140) is always directly between the sensor (131) and the sun.