Primary Uses
- Project feasibility
- Portfolio comparison
- Site planning
As a leading innovator in atmospheric sciences for the renewable energy industry, 3TIER provides custom reports enabling high-quality assessment for commercial and utility-scale solar projects. Our FullView Solar Site Climate Variability Analysis (CVA) gives you a complete picture of the solar resources at your site. Based on a satellite derived 11 to 13-year time-series, this product includes the intensity and variability of irradiance values and additional data on wind speed and temperature.
By incorporating other meteorological variables such as wind and temperature, our report provides a clearer picture of the conditions that affect the long-term potential of your project. This report includes mean annual, monthly, and diurnal variability for GHI (Global Horizontal Irradiance), DNI (Direct Normal Irradiance), and DIF (Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance) values. Additionally, there are graphs analyzing the monthly-mean and diurnal variability of ground-level wind speed and temperature and color-coded tables of the hourly distribution of these values. The data file accompanying the report includes hourly wind and temperature values as well as the full 11 to 13-year time-series of hourly irradiance values.
As a single data source for locations worldwide, 3TIER solar assessment reports allow you to make more informed decisions and offer a consistent approach to solar assessment. Our reports are based on a global, high-resolution solar irradiance dataset and uniform methodologies, enabling more accurate point-to-point comparisons and providing you with a clearer picture of the risks for every potential site in your portfolio.
Figure 1. Solar DHI
Figure 2. Solar DNI
| 3TIER Solar Time-series | FullView Solar Site CVA | FullView Solar Site Resource Assessment | |
| Product Features | |||
| Monthly variation of Irradiance | X | ||
| Diurnal variation of Irradiance | X | ||
| Irradiance histograms for GHI, DNI, DIF | X | ||
| Monthly variation of Irradiance (with MOS correction) | X | ||
| Diurnal variation of Irradiance (with MOS correction) | X | ||
| Irradiance histograms for GHI, DNI, DIF (with MOS correction) | X | ||
| Monthly temperature and wind speed variability (min, mean, max) | X | X | |
| Diurnal temperature and wind speed variability and 12x24 table of hourly means | X | X | |
| Time-series for solar GHI, DNI, DIF | X | X | |
| Time-series for solar GHI, DNI, DIF with MOS correction | X | ||
| Time-series for 10 meter wind speed and 2 meter temperature (length dependent on region of purchase) | X | ||
| Time-series for wind speed and temperature based on 4.5 km NWP model run | X | ||
| Validation Report on the MOS-corrected irradiance time-series compared to observations | X |
Portable Document File (PDF) report and data files in an easily integrated, comma-separated value (CSV) format.
FullView Solar Site CVA utilizes 3TIER's satellite derived, high-resolution solar dataset to deliver an assessment of GHI (Global Horizontal Irradiance), DNI (Direct Normal Irradiance), and DIF (Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance) values at roughly a 3 km resolution. Wind and temperature data are drawn from a 5 km resolution NWP (Numerical Weather Prediction) modeled dataset. 3TIER employs an NWP model called WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting). This model is widely supported and continually enhanced by the global atmospheric science and research community.
3TIER produced the first global solar irradiance map and time-series dataset at roughly three times the resolution of previous US solar datasets and at thirty times the resolution of global datasets available from NASA. Based on over a decade of satellite imagery and cutting-edge technology, our uniform methodology is supported by a large scientific and research community and results in a consistent map and dataset, enabling more accurate point-to-point comparisons.
The dataset is based on actual, half-hourly, high-resolution visible satellite imagery observations via the broadband visible wavelength channel at a 2 arc minute resolution. These data have been processed to hourly GHI, DNI, and DIF values. 3TIER processes the satellite images based on a combination of in-house research and algorithms published in peer- reviewed scientific literature. These algorithms contain parameters and coefficients that are based on empirical fits to observational data. The specific satellites and length of time varies slightly by region due to differences in the availability of data from region to region. See the chart below for more details.
| Regions | Satellites | Temporal Coverage |
| Western Hemisphere | GOES 8 - 13 | 13 years (January 1997 - May 2010) |
| South Asia and Middle East | Meteosat 5, Meteosat 7 | 11 years (January 1999 – February 2010) |
| East Asia and Oceania | GMS 5, GOES 9, AMTSAT | 11 years (December 1999 – March 2010) |
| Europe and Africa | Meteosat 7, Meteosat 9 | 11 years (July 1998 – March 2010) |
To develop and validate our model, 3TIER used observations from:
Find our validation papers here.
In order for us to process this report, you must provide the center latitude and longitude of your solar site.
If you are unfamiliar with the technical terminology on this page, please visit our Glossary for more information.
