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2017_63: Building a long-term record of the global solar energy resource from satellite observations Supervisors: Dr Helen Brindley ([email protected]), Dr Nicholas EkinsDaukes, (Physics); Dr Caroline Poulsen and Dr Matt Christensen (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) Department: Physics The recent ratification of the Paris Agreement to limit the global average surface temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels will require a strong drive away from a carbon driven global economy to alternative energy sources. One obvious candidate is solar power. However to optimize photovoltaic cell design in order to maximize power output, the form (diffuse/direct), amount and, for the most efficient cells, spectral distribution of the solar radiation incident at the surface must be known. For example, recent work carried out by a Grantham PhD student shows how inappropriate assumptions concerning the wavelength dependence of incident solar radiation strongly reduce the power output of a standard multi-junction solar cell. This dependency leads to a problem since, in many of the regions most suited to solar cell deployment, there is a lack of ground based measurements of solar radiation. Even where such measurements exist they are usually limited to broadband (spectrally integrated) quantities. Satellite observations, used in conjunction with radiative transfer modelling tools, have the potential to fill these gaps but current approaches either contain assumptions concerning the underlying atmospheric state or infer this state from a combination of different instruments using different approaches. Two variables that exert a key influence on the available solar resource are aerosol and cloud. Under the auspices of ESA's Climate Change Initiative, scientists at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory have developed an algorithm that applies a common approach to aerosol and cloud retrievals. In addition, these data are used to generate broadband radiative fluxes, providing a consistent link to the incident solar radiation at the surface. So far these approaches have been applied to observations from the Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) series of instruments, spanning 1995 to the present day. The aim of this PhD is to further develop the radiative transfer capability within the RAL algorithm such that the quantities most pertinent for assessing the solar resource and informing solar cell design are routinely generated. Once implemented and evaluated, the dataset will be fed into the SolCore solar cell simulation tool developed at Imperial College in order to estimate the electricity generation potential for different For more information on how to apply visit us at www.imperial.ac.uk/changingplanet Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet cell designs as a function of location. In this way the optimal cell technology and/or design for different regions can be identified based on real, long-term observations. Further directions for the research using the tools developed could include: • extension of the approach to other suitable satellite instruments potentially providing greater temporal and spatial coverage • the assessment of redundancy in the solar spectrum: useful for the design of simplified, autonomous, ground-based instrumentation to improve the ground-based network • the use of the radiative transfer code in ‘off-line’ mode fed by relevant meteorological output from the next generation of Earth-System models to obtain predictions of the future solar resource and how this varies with time/climate change scenario For more information on how to apply visit us at www.imperial.ac.uk/changingplanet