Efficient, Real-Time Global Spectral and Broadband Irradiance Acquisition

Two global solar spectral irradiance meters (SolarSIM-Gs) were deployed and tested at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, USA from 18 September to 6 October 2017. The instruments were installed in the global horizontal orientation at the Solar Radiation Research Laboratory and their measurements were compared against co-located secondary reference spectroradiometers and secondary standard pyranometers. The SolarSIM-Gs' spectral global horizontal irradiance (Gin) accuracy was shown to be < 5% on average per wavelength in the 290-1650 nm range for over 1,900 analyzed spectra. The broadband GM measurement accuracy for two instruments was shown to have mean bias and standard deviation of 0.97, 1.23 W/m(2) and 5.27, 5.65 W/m(2), respectively, for over 10,000 analyzed data points.