WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:04.040 Hi everyone, this is Mal Abbott from PV Lighthouse. 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:07.096 In this video, I'm going to demonstrate how ... 00:00:07.096 --> 00:00:11.039 to simulate a spatially varying albedo in sunsolve yield. 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:13.258 This can be useful if, for example, 00:00:13.258 --> 00:00:16.181 your site includes a combination of surfaces like ... 00:00:16.181 --> 00:00:18.408 grass, gravel or other materials with ... 00:00:18.408 --> 00:00:20.078 different reflectivities. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:25.065 I'm going to demonstrate it with a single axis tracker that ... 00:00:25.065 --> 00:00:26.919 includes a bifacial module. 00:00:27.080 --> 00:00:29.931 We're going to look at the current collected by the rear ... 00:00:29.931 --> 00:00:32.658 side of that module as a way of understanding what the ... 00:00:32.658 --> 00:00:33.959 striped ground is doing. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:38.037 I'm going to demonstrate it with some five minute data ... 00:00:38.037 --> 00:00:40.834 that we've uploaded here and we'll just do it for a single day ... 00:00:40.834 --> 00:00:43.183 so that we can simulate it quickly and have a look at ... 00:00:43.183 --> 00:00:44.078 what's happening. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:47.760 So there's my weather with a single day selected. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:49.440 Here's my panel. 00:00:49.440 --> 00:00:54.771 It's just an LR5 bifacial module and our system is a ... 00:00:54.771 --> 00:01:00.102 single axis tracker in which we have at the moment, 00:01:00.102 --> 00:01:01.879 uniform albedo. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.800 That albedo is set to green grass and it's around about 24%. 00:01:08.720 --> 00:01:12.304 So this is our baseline and we can simulate that and that ... 00:01:12.304 --> 00:01:14.719 doesn't have any striped ground yet. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:18.686 To add the striped ground, what we'll do is we'll go back ... 00:01:18.686 --> 00:01:22.399 to the system here and we'll make a copy of that simulation. 00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:26.096 And the way that we can simulate this is by adding ... 00:01:26.096 --> 00:01:27.039 custom objects. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:30.826 So you can see here, underneath where we define ... 00:01:30.826 --> 00:01:34.532 the other structure, we can add a custom object ... 00:01:34.532 --> 00:01:36.718 and we can use the basic box. 00:01:37.080 --> 00:01:40.160 But what we're going to set it to look like is a piece of the ground. 00:01:40.320 --> 00:01:42.998 So first of all, I'll uncheck the scaling of ... 00:01:42.998 --> 00:01:45.528 those inputs so we can change the ratios, 00:01:45.528 --> 00:01:49.323 set it to be 1 millimeter thick so that now it's sitting just on ... 00:01:49.323 --> 00:01:50.439 the ground there. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:53.571 As you can see, we'd also like it to extend to ... 00:01:53.571 --> 00:01:57.348 the edges and we can get that measurement from up here ... 00:01:57.348 --> 00:02:00.439 actually, in the dimensions of the system. 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:04.920 So we know that the system is 115cm wide. 00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:08.687 So we'll set that like this and maybe make this a little bit ... 00:02:08.687 --> 00:02:09.599 bigger as well. 00:02:10.760 --> 00:02:13.101 So there we've got our block on the ground and, 00:02:13.101 --> 00:02:15.134 and if I scroll back up to our image here, 00:02:15.134 --> 00:02:18.153 you can see that what we've effectively created is a stripe ... 00:02:18.153 --> 00:02:19.077 along the ground. 00:02:19.160 --> 00:02:24.520 And in this case it's positioned directly underneath the panels. 00:02:24.720 --> 00:02:26.828 You could of course move that around, 00:02:26.828 --> 00:02:28.120 change the sizes of it. 00:02:28.160 --> 00:02:30.537 You could add multiple custom objects as well for ... 00:02:30.537 --> 00:02:33.319 each different part of the ground you wanted to simulate. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:37.755 Now the reflection of that by default would be set to the ... 00:02:37.755 --> 00:02:39.359 same as galvanized steel. 00:02:39.480 --> 00:02:42.754 And that's because custom objects are typically used to ... 00:02:42.754 --> 00:02:45.959 represent the structure that's holding up the module. 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:48.211 In this case, we would like to set it to ... 00:02:48.211 --> 00:02:50.079 something different to begin with. 00:02:50.200 --> 00:02:53.784 I'm going to choose 'custom' and that's going to allow me to ... 00:02:53.784 --> 00:02:55.759 then edit what we've got in here. 00:02:56.200 --> 00:02:57.640 So we'll start with the scattering. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:58.960 We want that to be 100%. 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:01.160 That's often what we use for ground albedo. 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:03.280 You can see that's the same down here. 00:03:05.200 --> 00:03:07.809 And instead of 'wavelength dependent material' 00:03:07.809 --> 00:03:10.290 to begin with, we'll set that to be 'constant', 00:03:10.290 --> 00:03:12.644 but we'll make it quite reflective so we get a ... 00:03:12.644 --> 00:03:13.598 dramatic effect. 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:16.160 So there I've set the reflection to be 100%. 00:03:17.200 --> 00:03:21.120 Close all of that and we will run that system. 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:24.960 So this now is our striped ground. 00:03:28.720 --> 00:03:32.258 Now we can go back to the baseline and what we're going ... 00:03:32.258 --> 00:03:36.199 to do is download the results of just the rear side current. 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:39.520 So you can get to that by clearing all the different selections. 00:03:39.920 --> 00:03:43.057 And then we choose module summary, 00:03:43.057 --> 00:03:46.519 current generation and JL on the rear. 00:03:46.640 --> 00:03:48.360 So we're just going to get that rear current. 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:52.876 So we'll request that data and open up that file and we can ... 00:03:52.876 --> 00:03:57.325 copy that into a spreadsheet that we've already got ready ... 00:03:57.325 --> 00:04:01.959 to start plotting and that'll give us an idea of what the rear ... 00:04:01.959 --> 00:04:05.759 side irradiance looks like throughout that day. 00:04:06.720 --> 00:04:10.399 Now we can go to our second simulation where we've ... 00:04:10.399 --> 00:04:14.437 changed the ground to have that stripe there and we'll ... 00:04:14.437 --> 00:04:18.654 download the same type of result again and we'll put that ... 00:04:18.654 --> 00:04:20.359 into our spreadsheet. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:26.553 Now we can see that in this case we've got quite a ... 00:04:26.553 --> 00:04:27.719 dramatic difference. 00:04:27.880 --> 00:04:30.974 And you might see that on a site measurement of a rear ... 00:04:30.974 --> 00:04:33.636 facing poa sensor, when you do have some sort ... 00:04:33.636 --> 00:04:37.377 of non-uniform spatial albedo, that you actually get peaks at ... 00:04:37.377 --> 00:04:41.478 different times of the day rather than right in the middle of the day. 00:04:41.880 --> 00:04:46.947 So here that's been replicated for the five minute data that ... 00:04:46.947 --> 00:04:52.319 we uploaded and we could change that around a bit if we wanted to. 00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:56.419 Instead perhaps make the ground around the outside a ... 00:04:56.419 --> 00:04:58.079 lot more reflective. 00:04:58.280 --> 00:05:03.440 And we can set the material to be wavelength dependent. 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:06.920 And there are other options there. 00:05:07.960 --> 00:05:10.484 For example, we might choose soil, 00:05:10.484 --> 00:05:12.399 put some soil underneath. 00:05:12.440 --> 00:05:16.055 And so now we've got grass, quite shiny grass between the ... 00:05:16.055 --> 00:05:18.439 rows and dirt underneath the panels. 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:21.400 And we can run that as a final example. 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:29.880 We'll come across to our output again once that's finished. 00:05:38.280 --> 00:05:40.000 Now we'll download that. 00:05:49.160 --> 00:05:51.838 And now what we'll see is we've got a more extreme ... 00:05:51.838 --> 00:05:55.319 peak in the middle of the day, and it's suppressed on the edges. 00:05:56.040 --> 00:05:59.817 So you can certainly use this to simulate different types of ... 00:05:59.817 --> 00:06:02.159 striped ground or patterned ground. 00:06:02.320 --> 00:06:05.560 And really, it's just whatever you can ... 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:08.800 define there with the custom objects. 00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:12.195 So you add a custom object, set it to the shape that you ... 00:06:12.195 --> 00:06:14.079 want, and set the reflection. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:15.520 Thank you very much.