Site adapted project data

For better simulation accuracy, Solargis Evaluate offers an option to site-adapt Solargis dataset to your project location using your own on-site ground measurements. The result is a new data source in your project — tuned to your site, with reduced data bias and uncertainty — that you can simulate, analyze, report on, and export like any other Solargis data source.

Prerequisites

• A Full evaluation project in Solargis Evaluate. Site adaptation is not available for Early evaluation projects.

• At least 12 months of on-site ground measurements.

Note: Contact your account manager for a personalized quote and the full list of required inputs.

How site adaptation works

Our team performs quality control on your measurements, harmonizes their metadata, and recalibrates the Solargis solar and meteorological models to your specific project location. The adapted result is then delivered into your Evaluate project as a separate data source.

What you receive:

• Full quality control and metadata harmonization of your measurements.

• Site-adapted time series and TMY P50 data, integrated directly into your Evaluate project.

• The ability to run simulations, generate reports and exports, and derive additional TMY Pxx percentiles — all based on the location-tuned data.

To understand the model behind the adaptation, see the Solar irradiance site adaptation methodology article.

Important: Not the same as albedo site adaptation. This article covers adaptation of the Solargis solar and meteorological model. If you need site-adapted ground surface albedo data for bifacial PV simulation, see Site adaptation of ground surface albedo Time Series.

Requesting site adaptation

1. Submit the request from the Project data page. See Site adaptation of Solargis Model in the Evaluate add-ons guide for the exact steps.

2. Prepare your data according to the instructions on the page (Figure 1) while you wait for our team to contact you.

3. Supply the prepared data to our team.

4. Wait for the adaptation of your data into the Solargis dataset by our team. You will receive an email notification once the site adapted data source is available in your project.

Figure 1: Site adaptation of Solargis model - how to prepare your data.

Using the site-adapted dataset

Once the site adapted data source has been delivered to your project:

1. Select the site adapted dataset in the energy system selector. Optionally, set it as your primary data source so it is pre-selected everywhere in the project.

2. Re-simulate your energy system against the new data source. See Simulating your energy system.

3. Analyze the results and generate reports or exports based on the site adapted data.

Key points to remember:

• If preferred, you can select the site-adapted dataset as your primary data source in the Project data section of your Evaluate project.

• You must re-simulate your already simulated energy system with the new site-adapted dataset to apply it to the simulation and see the results of site adaptation in the analysis charts.

• Site adapted dataset will have SITE ADAPTEDlabel on it.

• The original Solargis data source stays in your project. You can keep both and compare simulation results before and after adaptation.

Analyzing site-adapted results

Site adaptation is worth doing because it lowers bias and uncertainty in your energy assessment — so the value shows up in the analysis and reporting stages.

• Analysis section: review solar resource, climate, environment, PV statistics, and PV loss data for the selected data source. See Data analysis.

• Uncertainty: review GHI and DNI model uncertainty and probabilities of exceedance for the site adapted source. See GHI and DNI uncertainty and the uncertainty estimates methodology.

• Reports and exports: where uncertainty data has been delivered, it appears in Chapter 1 (Summary) and in Chapter 8 (GHI and DNI uncertainty, probabilities of exceedance) of the PV report. See Project reports and data exports.

• Compare before and after: because data sources coexist in the project, you can simulate the same energy system against both the original and the site adapted source and compare the results side by side.

Important: Uncertainty estimates must be requested separately for each data source. They will not appear automatically for your newly delivered site adapted data source, even if you already had uncertainty activated on the original one.

Related articles

• Evaluate add-ons — Site adaptation of Solargis Model: how to request the service.

• Data source updates: how multiple data sources, primary selection, and archiving work.

• Energy system selector: how to switch to the site adapted dataset.

• Solar irradiance site adaptation: the methodology behind the adaptation.