Archives

Near-Live Solar Energy Satellite Maps Now Mobile, Thanks to New Masdar Institute App

January 28, 2015

Abu Dhabi-UAE: 20 January, 2015 – The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology an independent, research-driven graduate-level university focused on advanced energy and sustainable technologies, today announced that its Research Center for Renewable Energy Mapping and Assessment (ReCREMA) has developed a mobile application to access satellite maps of wind and solar energy resources in the UAE.

Dr Fred Moavenzadeh, President, Masdar Institute, said: “The mobile application reflects our commitment to innovation that makes clean energy resources available in the digital arena. With the support of the UAE leadership, we have evolved into an institution that contributes to developing digital tools in future energy. We believe the mobile app developed at Masdar Institute will further encourage wider adoption of sustainable sources while motivating others to seek similar innovative digital solutions.”

The Solar Mobile Application will allow users to access solar resource information for their location, in near real-time through their GPS enabled smart phones using the unique satellite-based solar mapping algorithm developed at Masdar Institute. The mobile application “UAE LiveSolar” is currently available for download on iTunes for Iphone and Google Play for Android devices. It will soon be available for Windows mobile platforms.

The mobile app is on display at the Masdar Institute stand (5350) at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2015 that is being held from 19-22 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC).

Dr Hosni Ghedira, Director, ReCREMA, and Professor of Practice, Masdar Institute, said: “Being able to interact with this data using a mobile device is a great advance following the current trend of making such information systems more ubiquitous. This mobile application is ready to use anywhere in the world provided that solar radiance or radiation data is available, including the UAE.”

Moreover, the UAE Solar Atlas produced by Masdar Institute is also accessible through the mobile app. Its yearly and monthly maps are included in the mobile application, allowing users to interactively access their values and evaluate monthly and yearly variations.

With this app, resource maps with DNI, DHI and GHI values for the latest available data are also available as well as charts showing the latest values for these three solar components at the user’s current location. Yearly and monthly maps from the UAE Solar Atlas are also available allowing users to interactively access their values and evaluate monthly and yearly variations.