History of the UO Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory
Introduction
The University of Oregon Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory (UO SRML) began operation in 1977. Since that time it has operated a network of solar radiation monitoring site in the Pacific Northwest. The number of stations in the network has fluctuated over the years depending on the level of funding.
In 1994, a consortium of utilities headed by the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) initiated the Regional Solar Radiation Monitoring Project (RSRMP) which revitalized the region's solar monitoring efforts.
In 2000, seed funding from Bonneville Power Administration allowed the UO SRML to upgrade and expand the solar monitoring network, provide education and training on solar resource assessment, and to become a regional solar radiation data center.
Background and early history
In 1977, a five-station global network was established under the auspices of the Pacific Northwest Regional Commission. Formation of the network was motivated both by the lack of available solar radiation data around the region and by the large inaccuracies commonly found in older data, due to instrumental deficiencies and poor calibration procedures. These five stations were equipped with Schenk pyranometers (Black & White 848) and integrating chart recorders to facilitate hand analysis of the data. In preparation for the network, global monitoring was initiated at the Eugene station in 1975. EWEB was a key backer of the solar monitoring effort from the beginning.
Supplemental assistance for the UO solar radiation monitoring effort was provided from 1977 to 1981 through a contract with the United Stated Department of Energy, as part of the Solar Energy Meteorological Research and Training Site Program (in collaboration with Oregon State University).
At about the same time, in 1978, BPA funded the UO Solar Monitoring Laboratory to initiate a program of high quality solar radiation data acquisition in the Pacific Northwest. Both global and direct beam radiation were to be monitored on a continuing basis so that short-term fluctuations could be studied. The primary motivation was to provide the requisite resource data for future development of solar electricity in the region. Initially, high quality monitoring stations were set up at three locations:
- Whitehorse Ranch
At the stations Eppley Normal Incident Pyrheliometers (NIPs) were mounted on trackers for direct normal measurements. Eppley Precision Spectral Pyranometers (PSPs) were installed horizontally for global horizontal measurements. At the same time, the Eugene station was upgraded to include beam radiation monitoring and an automatic data acquisition system.
In 1980, a fourth Bonneville high quality station was established in Kimberly, Idaho (Near Twin Falls). Another station in Vancouver Washington was started in October of the same year. The Vancouver station was moved to Portland in 1983. In October 1985, the contract with Bonneville was completed and the stations at Portland and Whitehorse Ranch, Oregon and Kimberly, Idaho were decommissioned.
From September 1982 to August 1986 a global and beam instrumented station was operated at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
From April 1984 through August 1988, solar radiation data was obtained for a station in Hood River, Oregon.
Re-establishment of a regional network
In July 1994, a consortium of regional utilities—Bonneville, EWEB, Idaho Power, PacifiCorp, and PGE—decided that a longer-term solar radiation data base was needed to make appropriate decisions on where and when to site solar electric generating facilitates. The UO Solar Monitoring Laboratory was contracted to gather and archive solar radiation data in the region. Instead of establishing all solar monitoring stations with expensive first class instrumentation, the utility consortium decided that a more comprehensive solar resource assessment could be achieved by maintaining a limited number of high quality, reference, solar monitoring stations supplemented by a number of less expensive and easier to maintain subsidiary solar monitoring stations. In this manner, the solar resource could be more thoroughly mapped, and areas with the greatest solar resource could be more quickly identified.
Several of the new network stations are part of the US Bureau of Reclamation's AgriMet network. These stations include:
These stations were equipped with one a LiCor pyranometer for global measurements, and a LI-COR pyranometer with a shadow band for diffuse measurements.
At the same time, PacifiCorp's PV monitoring program installed several more stations:
These stations were equipped with Rotating Shadow Band Pyranometers (RSPs). An RSP measures global and diffuse irradiance and calculates the direct normal irradiance. In addition, stations at Boise and Hermiston were equipped with RSPs for comparison between different instrument packages.
In 2000, two new stations equipped with RSPs were established at Ashland, Oregon and Cheney, Washington as part of the network expansion.
In addition to funding solar radiation data gathering, the contracts with our sponsors contain a limited amount of funding to provide education and training on the use of solar radiation data. The improved accessibility of the data, the resource assessment lessons, and the tools contained at this web site are a direct result of this funding. Continuation of these efforts depends on those agencies or companies that make use of these data and services also joining the solar radiation data monitoring consortium and become sponsors.
Frank Vignola's Legacy
In 2023 the long time director of the lab, Frank Vignola, passed away. Frank was a pioneer in the field. His work had effects locally, at the state, national, and international level. His contribution to the field can not be understated.The SRML today
In 2023, Josh Peterson assumed leadership of the SRML. Under Josh's leadership the SRML has focused on streamlining the SRML network. With an emphasis on higher quality staitons at a limited number of sites. This motivation is inspired by current trends in the solar industry.In 2023 a new station was installed in Madras, Oregon. The new station has a ventilated CMP11, and a RSP. In 2024 a two-axis tracker was installed at the Portland. The two-axis tracker began operation in October 2024.
Also at this time, the SRML focused attention on restructing the data to make larger data downloads more accessible. This effort included a reorganization of the website, and the implimentation of the comprehensive format files to the public in real time.