1. Method to Determine Areas Prone to Sudden Cloud Formation Using Satellite Image and Geographic Information System

Abstract

An evaluation to determine areas with cloudiness fluctuations and the cloudiness ratio throughout January and June in Fukui is done using Himawari-8 satellite image’s available geophysical parameters data provided by JAXA P-Tree system. Geographic information system (GIS) is also considered to compare cloudiness ratio, cloudiness fluctuation and solar radiation with land use to understand areas where clouds form easily to reduce errors in photovoltaic energy (PV) forecasting. Three areas with different land use were chosen to evaluate low level cloud conditions. Evaluation results show that cloudiness fluctuations are higher in January and sudden clouds are more likely to occur in areas with high concentration of buildings in January.