Patent ID: 8335649

Claim:
A computer-implemented system for estimating photovoltaic power generation for use in photovoltaic fleet operation, comprising: a computer comprising a processor and memory within which code for execution by the processor is stored, comprising: an input sky clearness module configured to generate a set of sky clearness indexes as a ratio of each irradiance observation in a set of irradiance observations that has been regularly measured for a plurality of locations, which are each within a geographic region suitable for operation of a photovoltaic fleet, and clear sky irradiance; a time series module configured to form a time series of the set of the sky clearness indexes for all of the locations within the geographic region; and a fleet statistics module configured to determine fleet irradiance statistics for the photovoltaic fleet through statistical evaluation of the time series of the set of the sky clearness indexes, and to build power statistics for the photovoltaic fleet as a function of the fleet irradiance statistics and an overall power rating of the photovoltaic fleet.