Worldwide benchmark of modelled solar irradiance data annex

This data annex contains the supplementary data to the IEA PVPS Task 16 report "Worldwide benchmark of modeled solar irradiance data" from 2023. The dataset includes visualizations and tables of the results as well as information concerning the reference stations.

The dataset contains the following type of files:

• StationList.xlsx: list of all stations, including their coordinates, climate zone, station code, continent, altitude AMSL, data source, number of available test data sets, station type (Tier-1 or Tier-2), and available calibration record.
• Result tables in folder “ResultTables”: Folders “climate_zones” and “continents” contain the tables described in Section 5.3. The filenames are “Component_metric_in_subgroup.html” with “component” DNI or GHI, “metric” describing the metric (see Table 3), and “subgroup” describing the continent or climate zone.
• World maps: The folder “Resultmaps” contains world maps of the metrics described in Section 5.2. Either four or three metrics, depending on the map, are included in each pdf. A legend describing the meaning of the point size is also included.
• Scatter plots of test vs. reference irradiance: The folder “Scatterplots” contains two folders, “DNI” and “GHI”, for the two investigated components. Three subfolders are also contained in these two folders:
  • The subfolders “plotsPerSiteYear” contain plots named “scatOverviewCOMPONENT_SITEYYYY.png”, where “COMPONENT” is either DNI or GHI, SITE is the three-letter site abbreviation, and YYYY is the evaluated year. The png plots include the scatterplots for all test data sets evaluated for the case specified by the filename.
  • The subfolders “plotsPerTestdataProvider” contain plots named “scatOverviewTESTDATASET_COMPONENTYYYY.png”, where “TESTDATASET” describes the test data set, “COMPONENT” is either DNI or GHI, and YYYY is the evaluated year. The png plots include the scatterplots for all sites evaluated for the case specified by the filename.
  • The subfolders “plotsPerTestdataProviderSamePosPerStat” contain the same scatterplots as “plotsPerTestdataProvider”, but using a slightly different visualization method. Here, the position of each scatterplot for a given site within the plot is always the same. Although this yields many empty subplots and small scatterplots, it can be helpful to rapidly browse through the plots if only one or a few stations are of interest.