Meteorological contexts in the analysis of cloud-induced photovoltaic transients: A review

Abstract

There is a prolific literature on the mitigation of cloud-induced photovoltaic fluctuations as a key objective for the effective grid integration of this renewable energy capacity. The meteorological context is of high relevance in such a problem, but it is frequently analysed separately from electrical considerations. However, a few studies have combined both sides of the problem, thus providing valuable references for examining their interdependencies. Therefore, this review focuses on this set of studies to explore the use of meteorological information in the analysis of cloud-induced photovoltaic transients in terms of scales, elements, and objectives under consideration. This examination shows the dependence of the results on the chosen context, allowing for the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. On this basis, some recommendations for future work are drawn, such as the use of spatiotemporal descriptions of cloud passage, description of the meteorological scenario for an adequate interpretation of results, and necessity of holistic approaches to integrate advances from the meteorological and electrical perspectives of the problem.