An essential ingredient in developing and commercializing solar energy technology is the information on the solar energy resource, specifically, the amount of energy a user can expect from the Sun. To ensure that this need is fulfilled, the Department of Energy (DOE) has established many programs in cooperation with other Federal agencies, industry, state governments, R&D companies, and academic institutions. This publication reports the efforts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

NOAA and its predecessor agencies, the Environmental Science Services Administration and the Weather Bureau, have had the Federal civilian responsibilities for monitoring and documenting the climate of the United States, including solar radiation and many other weather elements required by the solar energy technology user. The solar radiation monitoring network has existed for about 75 years with varying numbers of stations. In the 1960's about 60 NOAA stations and 30 cooperative stations were reporting solar radiation data to the National Climatic Center (NCC) in Asheville, N.C. In addition, State, local, and private organizations were making measurements with varying degrees of regularity and quality. These non-NOAA networks continue and, if anything, have increased in number, and with DOE help some of their data will be archived and published by the NCC.

The current network consists of 39 stations of which 35 are in the contiguous U.S. The remaining four are in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam. All stations are equipped to operate both a pyranometer and pyrheliometer.

National Weather Service, NOAA
Solar Radiation Network Stations Station Name Latitude (°N) Longitude (°W) Elevation (m) Fairbanks, AK 64.82 147.87 143 Montgomery, AL 32.30 86.40 68 Phoenix, AZ 33.43 112.02 339 Fresno, CA 36.77 119.72 102 Los Angeles, CA 33.93 118.40 36 Boulder, CO 40.10 105.25 1634 Grand Junction, CO 39.12 108.53 1473 Miami, FL 25.82 80.28 8 Tallahassee, FL 30.38 84.37 18 Honolulu, HI 21.32 157.92 2 Boise, ID 43.57 116.22 873 Indianapolis, IN 39.73 86.27 244 Dodge City, KS 37.77 99.97 795 Lake Charles, LA 30.12 93.22 19 Blue Hill, MA 42.22 71.12 200 Caribou, ME 46.87 68.02 195 Columbia, MO 38.82 92.22 277 Great Falls, MT 47.50 111.37 1125 Raleigh, NC 35.87 78.78 137 Bismark, ND 46.77 100.77 511 Omaha, NE 41.37 96.02 404 Albuquerque, NM 35.03 106.62 1623 Ely, NV 39.28 114.85 1912 Las Vegas, NV 36.08 115.17 661 Medford, OR 42.37 122.87 412 Pittsburgh, PA 40.50 80.22 371 Nashville, TN 36.12 86.68 186 Brownsville, TX 25.90 97.43 12 El Paso, TX 31.80 106.40 1206 Midland, TX 31.95 102.18 872 Salt Lake City, UT 40.77 111.97 1288 Sterling, VA 38.98 77.47 87 Burlington, VT 44.47 73.15 112 Seattle-Tacoma, WA 47.45 122.30 143 Madison, WI 43.13 89.33 271 Lander, WY 42.82 108.73 1699 Guam, Marianas Isl. 13.45 144.68 111 San Juan, PR 18.43 66.00 19 Desert Rock, NV 36.62 -116.02 1007	Map of Solar Radiation Network Stations

A NOAA ground level solar radiation monitoring network is not the only way of documenting the time and space statistics of the solar radiation reaching the ground. Other sources of such data are:

1. Other state, local, university, and private industry measurements and networks.

2. Inferred ground level solar radiation from satellite measurements of clouds, ozone, etc.

3. Computed (via atmospheric transmission theory and cloud cover or sunshine data) values.