Scientific Operation # 1 : Variability and Energy Management

Terrestrial solar radiation shows strong spatial and temporal variability in relation to climate.

In this context, the Scientific Operation “Variability and Energy Management” proposes to document the variability of solar radiation incident at the surface on medium to fine scales in time and space, in the insular areas of the south-west Indian Ocean in general and Reunion Island in particular, for applications, particularly those of predictability of climate change and daily and hourly variations in the resource.

To document the variability of solar radiation on the ground, it is envisaged to develop solar radiation data in high resolution grid points with a continuous spatial and temporal coverage, by an original approach combining two scientific approaches:

• Experimentation
• Simulation

The scientific operation “Variability and Energy Management” focuses mainly on:

• Characterization (estimation, forecast) of a renewable energy source: solar radiation
• Energy modelling of systems using a fatal intermittent source that varies in space and time.

This resource evaluation is also essential when the associated energy systems will be integrated on non-interconnected electricity networks, as it is often the case in island environments.

The Scientific Operation supervised 4 Phd students (funding Reunion Island Region) and a post-doctoral researcher, Li Peng, whose work focused on the “Spatial and temporal variability of the solar deposit in Reunion Island and the South-West Indian Ocean: regional climate modelling” (funding: European Union and Reunion Island Region)