Energy meteorology: Solar radiation information for an efficient use of solar energy

The specific characteristics of solar energy production make the meteorological knowledge on solar radiation to a product of increasing importance. Assessing information on the available resources to describe the potential of energy production, providing historical up to near-real-time data on various spatial scales to support a most efficient use of solar energy conversion systems, and solar radiation forecast for electricity grid management are only a few topics of the research field-energy meteorology. Besides the basics of measuring the different quantities of solar radiation as global, direct, diffuse, and spectral irradiance by ground-based instruments and satellite radiometers, a focus is set on the refinement of these data by model approaches to provide ready-to-use information. Furthermore, the utilization of these data in problems and questions on variousapplications that help to integrate solar energy into the mix of tomorrow's energy supply is addressed and recent research results are presented. © 2008 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.