Method and Apparatus For Forecasting Solar Radiation And Solar Power Production Using Synthetic Irradiance Imaging

A system comprising:

• a computer processor configured to execute:
• a collecting module for collecting data, which is based on irradiance incident upon a surface, from a plurality of irradiance sensitive devices in a geographic area, each irradiance sensitive device having an irradiance sensitive surface;
• an irradiance module for calculating irradiance incident upon the plurality of irradiance sensitive surfaces from the collected data;
• a combining module for combining values of calculated incident irradiance from groups of two or more irradiance sensitive devices in close proximity to each other, and whose respective irradiance sensitive surfaces have differing tilt and azimuth angles;
• and
• a radiation module for calculating solar radiation from the combined values of incident irradiance.

A computer readable storage medium containing a set of instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:

• collecting data, which is based on irradiance incident upon a surface, from a plurality of irradiance sensitive devices in a geographic area, each irradiance sensitive device having an irradiance sensitive surface;
• calculating on a computer processor irradiance incident upon the plurality of irradiance sensitive surfaces from the collected data;
• combining values of calculated incident irradiance from groups of two or more irradiance sensitive devices in close proximity to each other, and whose respective irradiance sensitive surfaces have differing tilt and azimuth angles;
• and
• calculating solar radiation from the combined values of incident irradiance.