SAInt for Electricity Networks with High Penetrations of Wind and Solar Power

Wind and solar PV electricity generation can be modeled with high fidelity thanks to the full integration of wind & solar resource datasets and performance models into SAInt.

Wind and solar resource datasets fully integrated into SAInt

The National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB)

by NREL covers North America, Central America, parts of South America, Europe, Africa, India, and other Asian countries. For the Americas, it provides solar resource weather variables (GHI, DHI, DNI, wind speed, and air temperature) with a spatial resolution of 4km by 4km and a temporal resolution of 30 minutes for 22 years (1998-2019). For other regions, it provides the same weather variables for different years and resolutions.

The Wind Integrational National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit

by NREL covers the Continental United States, Mexico, India, Philippines, Vietnam, and Central Asia. For the Continental United States, it provides wind resource weather variables (wind speed and air temperature at 10, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, and 200 meters, as well as air pressure at the surface, 100, and 200 meters) with a spatial resolution of 2km by 2km and a temporal resolution of 5 minutes for 8 years (2007-2014).

Other meteorological datasets

We can assist users with the integration of other meteorological datasets into SAInt. Contact us for more information.

Solar PV & wind performance models included in SAInt

These models allow to calculate electricity generation profiles for user-defined plant designs for locations covered by the integrated wind and solar resource datasets.

Solar PV performance model

NREL's System Advisor Model (SAM) is fully integrated into SAInt to leverage its solar PV performance model PVWatts. A SAInt user can define the following parameters for any solar PV plant: installed capacity, panel type, array type, orientation and the tilt angle of the panels, DC/AC ratio of the plant, and system losses.

Wind performance model

SAInt’s wind performance model allows the user to define the following parameters for any wind plant: hub height, wind turbine power curve (hundreds are provided for different commercial and generic wind turbines), and system losses.

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