Short-term irradiance forecasting using skycams: Motivation and development

Finally, we present a new technique for taking features extracted from sky-camera pixel data and building a model for predicting large shading events. We show an example of how this model can be easily adapted for either conservative or aggressive operation of a solar power system with a backup generator. In conservative operation, this model is shown to supply adequate or excess energy up to 99.96% of the time using 4 min-ahead forecasts when used for scheduling a backup electrical generator; meaning the system would require only minimal battery storage, while producing a large reduction in fossil-fuel consumption.