Research Blog 3 - Group 8

Submitted by apersohn on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 20:55

Topic: Solar Radiation Maps

Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory

As I was doing my research for this white paper, I stumbled across some valuable information. I was looking for information in the form of text to reference for writing the body of our document, but I forgot that visuals are always helpful in relaying information. That’s when I saw many different variations of graphs, charts, and maps from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The most valuable visuals that I found were maps of solar radiation. At the NREL, they do many experiments and then collaborate all their data into maps of the U.S. One map, seen here, shows the solar radiation for a flat plate PV panel facing south with a latitude tilt. The map shows data collected during the month of July. As you can see, the Southwest United States is the obvious choice for solar collectors as it has the most solar radiation.

These maps will provide adequate information for our audience. It may become a need to explain where the best spot to place solar panels and solar collectors. By using a figure in our white paper such as this map, the reader can easily see where the best spots are in the U.S.