There are a number of reasons why values measured with ground-based instruments may not match our estimates. For example, your location may have highly reflective terrain making it difficult to distinguish from clouds in our satellite-derived values (please see “How accurate are the Solar Prospecting Tools?” for more details). Your location may also be affected by long-term climatic patterns, making your short-term observations indicate higher or lower irradiance values than our estimated average values, which take a longer period of time into consideration.

Unlike many competing products that are available, Vaisala has the ability to reprocess the satellite imagery used to create the data provided by the Solar Prospecting Tools for nearly any location worldwide. This allows Vaisala to customize and tune our processing algorithms to your solar observational data, nearly eliminating model bias, and providing a historical context for your data extending as far back as 22 years. The incorporation of your observational data results in superior accuracy and allows you to obtain a comprehensive understanding of your resource and the opportunities and risks related to solar energy development at your project location.