Apparent velocity of shadow edges caused by moving clouds

In this paper, a method to determine apparent shadow edge velocity from measured data of three irradiance sensors is presented. A total of around 43,000 irradiance transitions were first identified in 15 months of data measured with one of the sensors around midsummer in 2011-2014. Out of those about 27,000 transitions were identified by all the three irradiance sensors and their apparent shadow edge velocity, length, etc. were analysed. The apparent shadow edge speed varies greatly with an average value of around 9 m/s. The lengths of irradiance transitions caused by edges of moving clouds are typically around 100 m, which is large enough to affect the operation of PV power plants of all sizes.