The time zone has an irrealistic value

[aarabi]

Hi PVsyst;

I'm trying to import hourly SolarGIS data but PVsyst 6.30 is giving me the error attached below (error#1).

The time zone of the location is UTC+10.5 . I looked at the SolarGIS file header and I couldn't find any mention of the time zone. So it must be that PVsyst is assuming a value?

I looked at an older SolarGIS sample and I found that the file header contains this line: #Time Zone;0

So I tried to add this line to my hourly data file:

#Time Zone;10.5

PVsyst didn't recognise that and it gave me the second error attached below (error#2).

error#1

error#1

error#2

error#2

 

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[André Mermoud]

Reading formats of specific data (like SolarGIS) follows usually very "rigid" rules. And a half-hour time zone is perhaps not recognized.

Or perhaps the SolarGIS file format has been changed.

Please send us this SolarGIS file (to support@pvsyst.com).

[Soldnerkugel]

I'm also struck by this problem.

Initiallay I used Meteonorm data, now I have to use SolarGIS data.

I checked both files and discovered that the time zone in Meteonorm is "-3" and in SolarGIS "2".

Ok, forget about the "-", 'cause it probably depends on how you define Azimuth (geodetic vs. "photovoltaic"), but there's still a difference of one hour.

So: what's the proper time zone? Meteonorm or SolarGIS? ...or is this eventually an issue because of daylight saving time?

[André Mermoud]

This depends on the locatione where you are of course.

The Timezone is an official specification for a given location. The summer Time Zone is usually a shift by +1 hour.

Usually PVsyst (and people dealing with meteo data) use to define the Winter time for the whole year.

Now in Australia there are half-hour (and even quarter hour?) time shifts.

There may be errors either in the Meteonorm data, or perhaps also in the SolarGIS data.

The important thing is that the hourly values are established for a given Timezone. If you change the Timezone you will have a shift in your data, with respect to the internal PVsyst time definition.

You can analyze your data in "Meteo tables and Graphs > Check data quality", and here get explanations in the help by pressing F1 (Help: "Meteorological data > Hourly Meteorological data > Time shift").