NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy

Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy

Operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy

Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.

Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308

Solar Resource Measurements 

in Sacramento, California

Cooperative Research and Development 

Final Report

CRADA Number: CRD-06-205

NREL Technical Contact: Tom Stoffel

CRADA Report

NREL/TP-7A10-59054

October 2013
NOTICE

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Cover Photos: (left to right) photo by Pat Corkery, NREL 16416, photo from SunEdison, NREL 17423, photo by Pat Corkery, NREL 

16560, photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL 17613, photo by Dean Armstrong, NREL 17436, photo by Pat Corkery, NREL 17721.

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1 

Cooperative Research and Development Final Report

In accordance with Requirements set forth in Article XI.A(3) of the CRADA document, this document is 

the final CRADA report, including a list of Subject Inventions, to be forwarded to the Office of Science 

and Technical Information as part of the commitment to the public to demonstrate results of federally 

funded research.

CRADA Number: CRD-06-205

CRADA Title: Solar Resource Measurements in Sacramento, California

Parties to the Agreement: Bergquam Energy

Joint Work Statement Funding Table showing DOE Commitment: 

Estimated Costs NREL Shared Resources

Year 1 $ 5,265.00

Year 2 $ 00.00

Year 3 $ 00.00

TOTALS $ 5,265.00

Abstract of CRADA Work: 

Site-specific, long-term, continuous, and high-resolution measurements of solar irradiance are important 

for developing renewable resource data. These data are used for several research and development 

activities consistent with the NREL mission:

• Establish a national 30-year climatological database of measured solar irradiances

• Provide high quality ground-truth data for satellite remote sensing validation

• Support development of radiative transfer models for estimating solar irradiance from

available meteorological observations

• Provide solar resource information needed for technology deployment and operations.

Summary of Research Results: 

Solar radiation resource measurements from a rotating shadowband radiometer system (RSR) collected by 

Bergquam Energy beginning in 2006 were never captured by the NREL Measurement & Instrumentation 

Data Center (/www.nrel.gov/midc) due to a variety of techical issues. The now obsolete equipment has 

been abandoned and continues to serve the needs of Bergquam Energy.

Subject Inventions Listing: Not applicable

Report Date: September 6, 2013

Responsible Technical Contact at Alliance/NREL: Tom Stoffel

This document contains NO confidential, protectable, or proprietary information.

This report is available at no cost from the 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 

at www.nrel.gov/publications.