I had a bit of fun this week generating a video that shows satellite imagery and solar PV maps side-by-side. This is ongoing research so I can’t say too much about it yet, but this early visualisation is a useful way to explore this problem and think about new ways to solve it.
On the left are images obtained from the Japanese Advanced Himawari Imager. On the right are “solar maps” that we are generating using only time series data from a few point sources (individual solar PV systems). The long term goal is to use this approach, or one like it, to forecast the total distributed solar PV generation of entire regions, like a distribution feeder, or even a market zone. Lots of work to be done still … but the video is fun.