getting to large-scale solar integration
Solar Resource Variability:
Myth and Fact
ASS YCE GroUP
A cloud passing in front of the sun
may cause a small photovoltaic (PV)
installation to go from full production to no production and back to full
production in a matter of seconds.
Grid operators are very concerned
with this sort of variability.
Different people can mean many different things when they refer to solar resource variability. For instance, some people may be referring to the variability of the resource from one year to the next. Others may be referring to the natural variation that
occurs when the sun rises and sets. And still others may be referring to the
microclimatic variability of the solar resource from one site to another.
