Analyzing The Impact of Different Meteorological Variables on Large-Scale Solar generation: A Case Study of Spain

Abstract

Scarcity and adverse environmental impacts of fossil fuels for electricity generation along with international emission reduction goals necessitate large-scale integration of renewable energies into power grids. These resources have intermittent nature which leads to a tradeoff between the inclusion of large shares of such sources of energy into the electricity network and their economical and environmental advantages. Therefore, it is important to study the impact of different meteorological variables on solar generation. To that end, correlation and interdependence among different meteorological variables were analyzed, and multiple linear regression was utilized to determine the significant variables that impact solar generation. Four years of hourly cumulative total solar generation of Spain has been used as a case study along with its meteorological variables. Twelve different multiple linear regression models were developed for each month and the significant variables were reported. The dependent variable was the cumulative solar generation in MW and the independent variables were the temperature, humidity, wind speed, pressure, and cloudiness. The variables with the highest influence were recorded for different months.