How can I import a quarter-hourly meteo file into PVsyst?

[DiegoNav]

Good morning,

I have a quarter-hourly meteo file from a photovoltaic solar plant containing wind speed, horizontal irradiance, and ambient temperature data. I would like to know how I can import these data into PVsyst while keeping the rest of the meteo parameters from the PVsyst site file, so that I can run a simulation and check whether my plant is performing the backtracking correctly. Thank you very much.

[Auriane Canesse]

You can import 15 min data via the custom file function of PVsyst. Just note that the data will be averaged and the simulation will still be in hourly steps
https://www.pvsyst.com/help/meteo-database/import-meteo-data/custom-meteo-files/index.html
 

Now for the merging part, you cannot do this in PVsyst. If you would like to use a mix a data sources, you should first create a .CSV file that has all your data. Please be careful when doing so that your data corresponds to the same place.

But please also note that in your case having global horizontal irradiance and ambiant temperature should be enough to create a .MET file and run your simulation. There is no need to merge anything.

[DiegoNav]

17 hours ago, Auriane Canesse said:

You can import 15 min data via the custom file function of PVsyst. Just note that the data will be averaged and the simulation will still be in hourly steps
https://www.pvsyst.com/help/meteo-database/import-meteo-data/custom-meteo-files/index.html
 

Now for the merging part, you cannot do this in PVsyst. If you would like to use a mix a data sources, you should first create a .CSV file that has all your data. Please be careful when doing so that your data corresponds to the same place.

But please also note that in your case having global horizontal irradiance and ambiant temperature should be enough to create a .MET file and run your simulation. There is no need to merge anything.

Thanks for your quick response Auriane!

Now I have a problem inserting the .MET file, I get the following error:

 

I've been searching for information and other people on the forum had the same problem when importing the file from "Known Format". When I try to simulate the project I get the following error that prevents me from simulating:

I was checking if the data in "Monthly best clear days graph" was correct and if it seems to resemble the data in Excel. I've read that there's a problem with the known format import function in PVsyst, and with the “Convert UTC to local time” in the NSRDB viewer. I would like to know if the error continues to appear, since the forum page where I have consulted all this information is more than a year old, and where I can find how to convert from UTC to Local Time.

Thank you!

[Auriane Canesse]

Did you try to define the time shift as indicated in the error message? You should also check that you have input the correct time reference

If the time shift information you input is not taken into account or if non of the time base work, could you please sent your csv data file, .MEF file and PVsyst version to support@pvsyst.com so we can have a closer look at your problem

[DiegoNav]

Thanks for the response, now the hourly simulations works perfectly. Now I only have a problem with the quarter-hour simulation. When I try to simulate it in the "custom file" section, when I open the file in the conversion section I set the time to every 15 minutes

And this is the file I open and the data I've selected for each variable

When i check the Weather data tables and graphs this error appears

I check the monthly best clear days and this is the result

I believe the error is that it's counting the data more accurately, but the hours aren't being added together, and therefore the time step isn't correct. I'd like to know how I can fix this error. Thank you!