Title
Solar Eclipse Monitoring for Solar Energy Applications Using the Solar and Moon Position Algorithms
Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
3-2010
Publisher
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Publisher Location
Golden, CO
First page number:
1
Last page number:
35
Abstract
This report includes a procedure for implementing an algorithm (described by Jean Meeus [1]) to calculate the Moon’s zenith angle with uncertainty of ±0.001° and azimuth angle with uncertainty of ±0.003°. The step-by-step format presented here simplifies the complicated steps Meeus describes to calculate the Moon’s position, and focuses on the Moon instead of the planets and stars. It also introduces some changes to accommodate for solar radiation applications. These include changing the direction of measuring azimuth angles from north and eastward instead of from south and eastward, and the direction of measuring the observer’s geographical longitude to be measured as positive eastward from Greenwich meridian instead of negative. In conjunction with the solar position algorithm that Reda and Andreas developed in 2004 [2], the angular distance between the Sun and the Moon is used to develop a method to instantaneously monitor the partial or total solar eclipse occurrence for solar energy applications and smart grid users. This method can be used in many other applications for observers of the Sun and the Moon positions for applications limited to the stated uncertainty.
Controlled Subject
Exergy; Solar energy; Solar eclipses; Solar radiation
Disciplines
Astrophysics and Astronomy | Oil, Gas, and Energy
File Format
File Size
1400 KB
Language
English
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Repository Citation
Reda, I.
(2010).
Solar Eclipse Monitoring for Solar Energy Applications Using the Solar and Moon Position Algorithms.
1-35.
Available at:
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/renew_pubs/17
Comments
NREL Report No. :NREL/TP-3B0-47681