Any place to find cumulative radiation forecast? (not irradiation)

Theodor88

Hello there,

I'm Theodor and I am a head grower in a professional greenhouse in Greece. For me upcoming weather is like bread and butter...
I enjoy windy premium and I was wondering if there is a feature to have forecast of cumulative radiation (as in J/cm2) for the coming days. The only thing I have found is irradiation forecast (as in W/m2) but this is not very useful for me.
This would be an EXTREMELY useful feature for all growers everywhere.
Thanks

idefix37

@Theodor88
Hi Theodor,
Solar radiation expressed as J/m2 is a parameter computed by ECMWF but not directly shown in Windy.
https://codes.ecmwf.int/grib/param-db/?id=169
https://codes.ecmwf.int/grib/param-db/?id=176
This is the energy provided by solar radiation during a period of time.
I guess Windy convert this parameter into power data as I’ve not found a power parameter in ECMWF.

You could convert the sun power values (W/m2) into J/m2, per hour
Solar energy (J/m2) = Solar power (W/m2) x 3600 s
Or per 3 hours
Solar energy (J/m2) = Solar power (W/m2) x 3600 s x 3

But that would need to do this calculation per each daylight hour (or 3 hours) and then cumulate them for a day as I assume you would like to get this energy figures per day ?

idefix37

@Theodor88
@Suty

Just a thought for future development.

The energy provided by solar radiation is an interesting parameter not only for plant growers like vegetable growers in greenhouses, but also for solar panel owners, who have repeatedly requested it on the community forum to more effectively control their electricity production.
A new Solar forecast table could be imagined on the Windy browser version, including these parameters:

Weather symbols (sun, clouds, precipitation type…)
Cloud cover %
UV index by colors
Solar power W/m2
Solar energy J/m2 (or better MJ/m2)
Cumul. energy, step by step, up to the end of the day.

There would be no need to show a map of solar energy as a layer, only the table.
Some users with solar panels will prefer energy unit in kWh/m2 instead of J/m2

However for solar panels owners, then it is still be tricky to get the energy finally received by their panels as @greggie74 explained :
https://community.windy.com/topic/22613/solar-power-addon/3?_=1705847764240