Forecasting Solar Radiation, Photovoltaic Power and Thermal Energy Production. Applications.

The demand for electrical and thermal energy has been increasing due to population growth, improvement of the lifestyle, economic and industrial development, especially of the emergent countries.

The electric and thermal energy generated by photovoltaic panels, solar collectors, and hybrid panels depends firstly on the solar radiation and secondly on the climatic and environmental factors such as ambient temperature, wind, humidity, aerosols, dust, and shadowing. These factors and parameters can vary slowly or quickly, which leads to altering the amount of electricity and thermal energy produced. The reliability, stability, and efficient operation of the photovoltaic farm can be seriously affected by the abrupt change of the operating conditions.

It is crucial to forecast the photovoltaic power production to control and manage the electrical stand-alone systems, microgrid, and grids. The forecast of the photovoltaic power production can be for the long term - it is very important for investors to plan the infrastructure and the time to recover their capital investments; medium-term – by predicting the electric power which can be generated help in maintenance schedule and to determine the reserve requirements; short-term - to optimize plant management, handle the uncertainty and fluctuations, improve the security of grid operation.

This Research Topic welcomes submissions related to the following subjects:

• Solar potential estimation using empirical, parametric and spectral models
• Models forecasting photovoltaic power for long term
• Models forecasting photovoltaic power for day-ahead
• Intra-day and intra-hour forecasting/prediction of PV power
• Models forecasting thermal energy
• Forecasting direct normal irradiance and its applications for the concentrated photovoltaic panel farms
• Solar applications on building roof tops
• Solar energy applications in agriculture
• Applications of the solar hybrid systems
• Smart homes, smart grids, electric vehicles charging stations
• Reliability and lifetime of the photovoltaic system