<p> With increasing penetrations of solar photovoltaic (PV) power in the electricity grid, the variability of the irradiance, and therefore power, is important to understand because variable resources can challenge grid operations. The smoothing of solar irradiance over the extent of PV power plants is examined using two methods: averaging measurements from many irradiance sensors, and using a model developed by Lave, Kleissl, and Stein (2013) called the Wavelet Variability Model. This thesis utilizes data from a network of 45 solar irradiance sensors which was deployed north of Flagstaff, Arizona. The results show the similarities and differences between two irradiance smoothing methods. These two models both show that the smoothing effect is significant for large PV power plants, which means the power plant output has less variability and is easier to integrate into the electricity grid than might have been expected using a single point sensor measurement to predict variability.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:1556716 |
| Date | 19 July 2014 |
| Creators | Dyreson, Ana |
| Publisher | Northern Arizona University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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