About

The project

Aims

The ASPIRE project aims to contribute to the scientific knowledge of interdisciplinary aspects that are related with solar radiation by investigating the effect of various atmospheric parameters such as clouds, aerosols, water vapor and absorbing trace gases to the Spectral Solar Irradiance (SSI) reaching the Earth’s surface. Such aspects deal with solar energy research and technology (e.g. Photovoltaic Systems, PV), impact on health (melanoma, skin cancer and Vitamin D efficiency), agriculture (photosynthetically active radiation, PAR, and crop production) and the complexity of the SSI determination through an atmosphere with various spectral absorbing, scattering and reflecting atmospheric constituents.

Objectives

(a) To investigate the effect of atmospheric composition in different solar spectral regions.

(b) To assess the impact of atmospheric composition on UV Index, Vitamin D and PAR.

(c) To improve PV efficiency based on spectral solar data for various atmospheric composition cases.

(d) To evaluate the performance of the Solar Energy Nowcasting SystEm (SENSE) using real solar spectra.

Methodology

The means to fulfill this goal is a sophisticated atmospheric field experiment to be held in the city of Athens, with a unique set of instrumentation, state-of-the-art measurements and a synergistic approach on the retrieved datasets. Atmospheric composition and solar radiation related measurements and models will be coordinated in ASPIRE in order to address the long-term vision of the project, which is to improve solar radiation related applications and to contribute to the advancement of the solar energy related science, using a unique – in terms of measurement accuracy and detail – atmospheric composition and SSI dataset.

Innovation

The innovation of the project lies on: (i) enriching existing knowledge of SSI variability and its dependence on atmospheric composition in urban environments, (ii) its use to improve the performance and accuracy of solar energy measurement systems including PV systems, and (iii) improving public awareness on the effects of solar radiation on the ecosystem. The innovative aspects of ASPIRE are based on societal challenges that can be linked with the United Nations Development Program sustainable development goals: “Affordable and clean energy” and “Good health and well-being”.

Impact

The analysis of the atmospheric parameters’ impact on SSI and solar energy will be valuable for the energy market, our understanding of the Earth's radiation budget, and the related socio-economic implementation areas. Such goals are in line with the scientific innovation on solar energy related technological field, towards fostering the environment and sustainable employment in Greece. Spectrally-weighted indices of the surface solar radiation have an impact on various interdisciplinary fields related with the ecosystem. Indicatively, the health sector is actively related with the DNA damage, the Vitamin D Effective Dose and the UV index (erythema). The agricultural sector exploits the photosynthetically active radiation for the plant growth.

Importance

The project adds new knowledge to the international scientific community on applications related to the environment and energy. It offers work possibilities to postdoctoral fellows, PhD candidates and postgraduate students, giving them powerful scientific benefits for their future development in the field of energy. It brings together high standard scientists in the research field of atmospheric physics and solar energy, enhancing the collaborations of NKUA with high-ranked international organizations leading science worldwide. It creates a new set of data from detailed measurements of SSI in Athens for one year, which will be available to a number of scientists and end users from interdisciplinary scientific communities (energy, health, agriculture, biology, atmospheric chemistry).

Location

All instruments measure continuously at:

ASNOA: Atmospheric Remote sensing Station of the National Observatory of Athens

BFRAA: Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens

Research activities

ASPIRE will contribute to the following scientific advancements:

• Accuracy of public awareness solar radiation related factors, such as erythemal (UV Index), eye cataract, DNA damage, Vitamin D production and agricultural (PAR) related indexes, could be essentially improved using the proposed measurements’ dataset.
• PV efficiency will be assessed and improvements will be suggested, with the use of detailed spectral information that will be available. In addition, atmospheric variables that attenuate SSI will be linked with possible deviations of the PV output. ASPIRE will provide to PV module users and constructors the know-how to link individual atmospheric solar attenuators (e.g. aerosols and trace gases) to such deviations.
• Solar energy nowcasting is a crucial aspect for national and private power transmission and distribution system operators worldwide. Detailed evaluation and improvement of such a developed system for Greece is an important aspect of the project, given the fact that the proposed SENSE system has been used by the national energy transmission operator.