Supercomputers improve solar power forecasts

Supercomputers improve solar power forecastsJavascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript. In order to enable it, please see these instructions.1 hour ago

Supercomputers improve solar power forecasts.

To improve the accuracy of solar power forecasting, research meteorologist Edwin Campos and his colleagues at DOE's Argonne National Laboratory have partnered with IBM to build a forecasting technology based on IBM's Watson supercomputer, made famous by its 2011 victory over human champions on the television quiz show Jeopardy!.

Campos hopes that the information he gains by integrating big data processing, machine learning and cloud modeling into a Watson-like platform will help grid managers and power plant operators develop more efficient strategies for allocating their resources to manage the unevenness of solar generation.

"Even five minutes of clouds when we thought there'd be sun can equate to tens of thousands of dollars of extra costs from having to buy other forms of power from across the grid," Campos said. "The more accurately we can forecast clouds, the more money we can ultimately save homeowners on their electric bills."

When a solar plant experiences a generation shortfall, other plants - typically fossil-fuel plants that run on coal and natural gas - need to increase generation in order to make up the difference, or else the grid could experience sporadic outages or even a blackout. These energy sources are relatively less environmentally friendly than solar.Additionally, grid operators may need to purchase electricity within a short time frame or continually carry additional back-up power in the absence of accurate and timely solar generation forecasts, which can then increase the cost of electricity. These increases are usually passed on to the consumer. With more accurate solar power forecasts, energy can be distributed more efficiently and cheaply.

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Supercomputers improve solar power forecastsJavascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript. In order to enable it, please see these instructions.1 hour ago

Supercomputers improve solar power forecasts.

To improve the accuracy of solar power forecasting, research meteorologist Edwin Campos and his colleagues at DOE's Argonne National Laboratory have partnered with IBM to build a forecasting technology based on IBM's Watson supercomputer, made famous by its 2011 victory over human champions on the television quiz show Jeopardy!.

Campos hopes that the information he gains by integrating big data processing, machine learning and cloud modeling into a Watson-like platform will help grid managers and power plant operators develop more efficient strategies for allocating their resources to manage the unevenness of solar generation.

"Even five minutes of clouds when we thought there'd be sun can equate to tens of thousands of dollars of extra costs from having to buy other forms of power from across the grid," Campos said. "The more accurately we can forecast clouds, the more money we can ultimately save homeowners on their electric bills."

When a solar plant experiences a generation shortfall, other plants - typically fossil-fuel plants that run on coal and natural gas - need to increase generation in order to make up the difference, or else the grid could experience sporadic outages or even a blackout. These energy sources are relatively less environmentally friendly than solar.Additionally, grid operators may need to purchase electricity within a short time frame or continually carry additional back-up power in the absence of accurate and timely solar generation forecasts, which can then increase the cost of electricity. These increases are usually passed on to the consumer. With more accurate solar power forecasts, energy can be distributed more efficiently and cheaply.

Explore further:NREL calculates emissions and costs of power plant cycling necessary for increased wind and solar

More from Physics Forums - General Engineering

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NREL calculates emissions and costs of power plant cycling necessary for increased wind and solar

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New research from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) quantifies the potential impacts of increasing wind and solar power generation on the operators of fossil-fueled power plants in the West. ...

No more cloudy days for solar

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For a country with so much sunlight, some might think Australia has been slow to adapt its electricity generation mix to include solar power. One of the main reasons for this is solar intermittency.

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Sep 16, 2013

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Nov 12, 2012

DayStar Technologies has struck a deal to buy a company whose technology could solve a problem that has chilled the solar energy industry: How to make solar power available for electricity usage at night when the sun is gone.

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(Phys.org) —Low-cost solar power could supply more than a third of all energy needs in the Western U.S., if the nation can hit its targets for reducing the cost of solar energy, according to a new study ...

German bank reports solar power cost in India and Italy has reached grid parity

Apr 10, 2013

(Phys.org) —Germany's Deutsche Bank has released a report that concludes that generating electricity using solar collectors has reached grid parity—cost competitiveness with other industry standard sources—in ...

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© Phys.org™ 2003-2013

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