Presentation of the UAE solar Atlas by Masdar Institute http://atlas.masdar.ac.ae/

1. Dr. Hosni Ghedira, Center Director
The Research Center for Renewable Energy Mapping and
Assessment at Masdar Institute
IRENA-KISR joint workshop on renewable energy in the GCC
KISR, Kuwait
June 10th, 2013

2. Vision
The Research Center for Renewable Energy Mapping and Assessment aims to develop
regional knowledge and leadership in renewable energy assessment and mapping for the
Arabian Peninsula and countries with similar climate (mainly in Africa).
To become a pivotal hub for advancing research and innovation in tackling the challenge
of estimating solar potential for arid and dusty environments.

4. Key skills:
• Satellite data management and processing
• Solar radiation modelling
• Ground data analysis, data mining and quality control
• High performance computing
• Machine learning and statistical modelling
• Solar irradiance measurements
• Real-time remote sensing
• Software development and programming
• Solar technology assessment
• GIS and Map-server development
• Artificial intelligence
• Climatology and Atmospheric Science
3x Faculty Members
8x Postdoctoral Researchers
5x Research Engineers
8x Research Assistants
2x Visiting Scientists

5. • Receiving the mandate from the UAE Government to develop
the UAE solar atlas. The atlas was successfully launched in June
2012 at Rio+20 Conference in Rio de Janeiro.
• After two years of operation, the Center has succeeded to
gain international recognition as a pivotal hub for advancing
research and innovation in tackling the challenge of estimating
solar potential for arid and dusty environments.
• The Center has succeeded in developing regional knowledge
and leadership in renewable energy assessment and mapping
for the Arabian Peninsula and countries with similar climate.
Key Milestones

6. • Playing a key role in the Global Solar and Wind Atlas initiative. The
Center is one of the co-developers of the Global Atlas application
(with NREL, DLR and ParisTech).
• Hosting the Global Atlas Application at Masdar Institute Data
Center. The Global atlas servers are presently hosted at our Data
Center; operated and maintained by the Center engineers.
• Developing and setting up a first-of-a-kind real time solar
mapping tool producing solar maps at 15-min intervals.
• Starting two new flagship projects: (1) Solar resource forecasting
and (2) solar technology simulation in desert environment
Key Milestones

7. – Satellite ground station receiving real-time data
from several European and US satellites.
– 200 Tb storage system.
– State-of-the-art capability in satellite image
processing
– Real time monitoring and visualization system
– Portable wind profilers (200-m ZephIR 300 LIDAR
Systems)
Center Facilities:

8. Earth Lab at Masdar Institute

9. Urban Remote Sensing Lab at Masdar
Institute

12. Solar Mapping Tool

13. UAE Solar Atlas Maps: Final Results

14. UAE Solar Atlas Maps: Final Results

16. Real time Solar Mapping Tool

17. Continuous Validation of the Solar Mapping Model

18. Our recent Publications

19. Global Solar and Wind Resource Atlas
ReCREMA is one of the key developers of the Global Solar and Wind Atlas tool, with
our research partners from ParisTech (France), DLR (Germany) and NREL (USA). The
atlas is presently hosted and maintained at our Center. It can be accessed at
http://irena.masdar.ac.ae. The Global Atlas was launched officially during IRENA’s 3rd
General Assembly held in Abu Dhabi on January 13, 2013.

20. http://irena.masdar.ac.ae

21. Became a Full Member of Desertec University Network
in March 2013

23. Performance Modeling of Solar Power
Systems

24. Technical
Performance
Modeling
Solar Power Technology Assessment
Assessment of solar energy potential is the primary application
of the UAE Solar Atlas.
Objectives:
 Performance modelling of solar power technologies
 Simulation and integration in the atlas
 Assessment of the economic potential

25. Technical
Performance
Modeling
Design of technical performance models for mainstream commercial PV and
CSP technologies with spatial and technological parameters as input variables

26. Economic Potential
Assessment
Economic assessment based on the technical performance
simulation
Additional parameters:
Spatial variables Technological variables
• Land acquisition cost
• Grid infrastructure cost
• Road infrastructure cost
• Power demand
• Land preparation cost
• Transportation cost
• Capital cost
• Installation cost
• Operation and maintenance cost
• Maintenance time
• Operating life
• Integrated CSP storage cost

27. Simulation
• Optimum tilt layers (PV)
• Design variation layers
– mounting tilt (PV)
– tracking option (PV)
– array to inverter ratio (PV)
– solar multiple (CSP)
– storage capacity (CSP)
• Performance indicator layers
– energy output [kWh]
– specific yield [kWh/kWp]
– capacity factor [%]
– performance ratio [%]

28. Effect of desert-induced soiling on DNI sensor
• Dew data was retrieved from leaf wetness sensor (LWS) installed at Masdar Field
Station, Masdar City for a year to study seasonal trend
• Solar zenith angles of ≤90° represent day-light period
• It can be inferred that dew condensation begins at night but continues until few hours
after sunrise esp. from as early as October to as late as March.

29. Effect of desert-induced soiling on DNI sensor
Design Limitations:
 Absence of ventilation
 Rain-shield locks the dust
 It also partially prevents exposure to wind for
quick dew evaporation
 Surface area to sensor ratio: only a few dew
drops cover entire sensor glass pane
significantly affecting transmittance

30. Slide 30
Heavy Dusty Day
Feb. 12, 2009
12:15 PM (UAE time)
Al Aradh
Madinat Zayed

31. RGB composite image
captured on March 19, 2012
(EOHCL, Masdar Institute)
Satellite-based dust monitoring tool
Real-Time Monitoring of Dust Sources in the Region

32.  inputs : atmospheric constituents
 modelling propagation
 expected accuracy for Middle-East:
B
I0
targetOCEAN, GROUND
ATMOSPHERE
absorption
scattering
SPACE
reflection
Atmospheric
parameters
Global
irradiance (GHI)
Direct irradiation
(DNI)
Hourly Below 12 % Below 20 %
Daily Below 8 % Below 10 %
Monthly Below 5 %
 Additional benefit: can model spectral composition of irradiance
32
Physics-based
solar resource modelling

33. Solar Resource Assessment33
• Station AD1 in operation close to Shams since Q1 2012
Irradiance
monitoring

34. Dust source distribution expressed as grid erodible fraction
(0.0-1.0) from TOMS 1-deg dataset
U.S. Navy’s Coupled Ocean-Atmospheric Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS)
56-hForecastsofDustMassLoadSatelliteImageofDustPlumesWeatherMap
Solar Resource Forecasting in Arid Regions

35. Thursday, September 05, 2013
The assessment of thermal trends of Abu Dhabi
City (UAE) has shown the opposite, where
downtown areas appeared colder compared to the
suburbs, especially in the hottest months.
- Presence of vegetation in the urban area
- Shadowing effect
- Wind channeling effect
- Construction Material

36. URBAN THERMOGRAPHY
ABU DHABI CITY

37. PREVIOUS STUDY ON ABU DHABI
Downtown areas appear colder compared to the suburbs during the day
Day
Lazzarini, M., Marpu, P.R., & Ghedira, H. Temperature-land cover interactions: the inversion of Urban
Heat Island phenomenon in desert city areas. Remote Sensing of Environment, 130, pp. 136-152. 2013.
AirT: Air Temperature
SST: Sea Surface Temperature

38. PREVIOUS STUDY ON ABU DHABI
-Negative trend of vegetation in downtown area (left);
--clear presence of vegetation only in downtown area, with a stress condition
during summer (right).
Vegetation Analysis

39. ASTER maps of LST, land cover and ISA percentage (Summer, 2008)
ASTER maps of LST, land cover and ISA percentage (Winter, 2000)
Thermal Mapping (Abu Dhabi)

40. Thursday, September 05, 2013
THERMAL MAPPING
Al Safa Park Shows a lower
temperature respect to the
surrounding areas
(buildings, asphalt and sand)

41. Thursday, September 05, 2013
REGIONAL PROJECT:
LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURE
FOR THE EMIRATES
LST product from METEOSAT is generated every 15 minutes with a resolution between
3-4 km