Meteorological data monitoring at photo-voltaic power plants in the US
The Imperial Valley Solar Company has built the largest photo-voltaic power plant of the USA and the Lufft WS500- and WS503-UMB compact weather sensors are an important part of this project. Another large project in the US was the solar plant installation at the Regional Training Institute of the National Guard in Fort Pickett, Virginia.
Detailed project description in the "Background" tab below.
WS500-UMB Smart Weather Sensor
Compact all-in-one weather sensor for measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction and wind speed.
Compact all-in-one weather sensor from the WS-Series. Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction and wind speed.
- Temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction and wind speed
- Ultrasonic/Wind, NTC/T, Capacitive/RH, MEMS capacitive/Pressure
- Wind detection with birdproof construction. Compact all-in-one weather sensor, low power, heater, aspirated radiation shield, maintenance-free operation, open communication protocol
- RS485 with supported protocols UMB-Binary, UMB-ASCII, Modbus-RTU, Modbus-ASCII, XDR and SDI-12
WS501-UMB Smart Weather Sensor
Compact all-in-one weather sensor with measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed and radiation.
Compact all-in-one weather sensor from the WS-Series. Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed and radiation.
- Temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed, radiation
- Ultrasonic/Wind, NTC/T, Capacitive/RH, MEMS capacitive/Pressure, Kipp&Zonen Pyranometer/Radiation
- Wind detection with birdproof construction. Compact all-in-one weather sensor, low power, heater, aspirated radiation shield, maintenance-free operation, open communication protocol.
- RS485 with supported protocols UMB-Binary, UMB-ASCII, Modbus-RTU, Modbus-ASCII, XDR and SDI-12
WS502-UMB Smart Weather Sensor
Compact all-in-one weather sensor with measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed and radiation.
Compact all-in-one weather sensor from the WS-Series. Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed and radiation.
- Temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed, radiation
- Ultrasonic/Wind, NTC/T, Capacitive/RH, MEMS capacitive/Pressure, Lufft Pyranometer/Radiation
- Wind detection with birdproof construction. Compact all-in-one weather sensor, low power, heater, aspirated radiation shield, maintenance-free operation, open communication protocol.
- RS485 with supported protocols UMB-Binary, UMB-ASCII, Modbus-RTU, Modbus-ASCII, XDR and SDI-12
WS503-UMB Smart Weather Sensor - discontinued
Compact all-in-one weather sensor from the WS-Series. Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed and radiation.
Compact all-in-one weather sensor from the WS-Series. Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed and radiation.
- Temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed, radiation
- Ultrasonic/Wind, NTC/T, Capacitive/RH, MEMS capacitive/Pressure, Tiltable Pyranometer Kipp&Zonen/Radiation
- Wind detection with birdproof construction. Compact all-in-one weather sensor, tiltable pyranometer, low power, heater, aspirated radiation shield, maintenance-free operation, open communication protocol.
- RS485 with supported protocols UMB-Binary, UMB-ASCII, Modbus-RTU, Modbus-ASCII, XDR and SDI-12
WS510-UMB Smart Weather Sensor
First and only Smart Weather Sensor with integrated Kipp & Zonen CMP10 Pyranometer (secondary standard)
First and only Smart Weather Sensor with integrated Kipp & Zonen CMP10 Pyranometer (secondary standard). Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed and radiation.
- Temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind direction, wind speed, radiation
- Ultrasonic/Wind, NTC/T, Capacitive/RH, MEMS capacitive/Pressure, Kipp&Zonen/Radiation
- Wind detection with birdproof construction. Compact all-in-one weather sensor, low power, heater, aspirated radiation shield, maintenance-free operation, open communication protocol.
- RS485 with supported protocols UMB-Binary, UMB-ASCII, Modbus-RTU, Modbus-ASCII, XDR and SDI-12
WS301-UMB Smart Weather Sensor
Compact all-in-one weather sensor for measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure and radiation.
Compact all-in-one weather sensor from the WS-Series. Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure and radiation.
- Temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, radiation
- NTC/T, Capacitive/RH, MEMS capacitive/Pressure, Kipp&Zonen Pyranometer/Radiation
- Compact all-in-one weather sensor, low power, aspirated radiation shield, maintenance-free operation, open communication protocol
- RS485 with supported protocols UMB-Binary, UMB-ASCII, Modbus-RTU, Modbus-ASCII, XDR and SDI-12
WS302-UMB Smart Weather Sensor
Compact all-in-one weather sensor for measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure and radiation.
Compact all-in-one weather sensor from the WS-Series. Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure and radiation.
- Temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, radiation
- NTC/T, Capacitive/RH, MEMS capacitive/Pressure, Lufft Pyranometer/Radiation
- Compact all-in-one weather sensor, low power, aspirated radiation shield, maintenance-free operation, open communication protocol
- RS485 with supported protocols UMB-Binary, UMB-ASCII, Modbus-RTU, Modbus-ASCII, XDR and SDI-12
WS303-UMB Smart Weather Sensor - discontinued
Compact all-in-one weather sensor for measurement of temperature, relative humidity, radiation and air pressure.
Compact all-in-one weather sensor from the WS-Series. Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, radiation and air pressure.
- Temperature, relative humidity, radiation and air pressure
- NTC/T, Capacitive/RH, Tiltable Pyranometer Kipp&Zonen/Radiation, MEMS capacitive/Pressure
- Compact all-in-one weather sensor, low power, aspirated radiation shield, maintenance-free operation, open communication protocol
- RS485 with supported protocols UMB-Binary, UMB-ASCII, Modbus-RTU, Modbus-ASCII, XDR and SDI-12
WS304-UMB Smart Weather Sensor - discontinued
Compact all-in-one weather sensor for measurement of temperature, relative humidity, radiation and air pressure.
Compact all-in-one weather sensor from the WS-Series. Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, radiation and air pressure.
- Temperature, relative humidity, radiation and air pressure
- NTC/T, Capacitive/RH, Tiltable Pyranometer Lufft/Radiation, MEMS capacitive/Pressure
- Compact all-in-one weather sensor, low power, aspirated radiation shield, maintenance-free operation, open communication protocol
- RS485 with supported protocols UMB-Binary, UMB-ASCII, Modbus-RTU, Modbus-ASCII, XDR and SDI-12
WS310-UMB Smart Weather Sensor
First and only compact weather sensor with integrated Kipp & Zonen CMP10 Pyranometer with secondary standard quality
Compact all-in-one weather sensor from the WS-Series. Measurement of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure and radiation.
- Temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, radiation
- NTC/T, Capacitive/RH, MEMS capacitive/Pressure, Kipp&Zonen/Radiation
- Compact all-in-one weather sensor, low power, heater, aspirated radiation shield, maintenance-free operation, open communication protocol
- RS485 with supported protocols UMB-Binary, UMB-ASCII, Modbus-RTU, Modbus-ASCII, XDR and SDI-12
WS3100-UMB Reference Weather Sensor - discontinued
New class of Smart Weather Sensors with high-quality aluminum housing: WS3100 Climate Reference Sensor for Calibration / Verification of Air Temperature, Relative Humidity, Air Pressure and Solar Radiation
WS3100 Climate Reference Sensor for Calibration / Verification of Air Temperature, Relative Humidity, Air Pressure and Solar Radiation. New class of WiFi-enabled, smart Weather Sensors with high-quality aluminum housing.
- Temperature, relative humidity, air pressure (redundant pressure as option), global radiation
- PT100/Temp, Capacitive/RH, MEMS Resonant Pressure transducer, Kipp&Zonen CMP10 / radiation
- Metal housing with ventilated radiation shield temperature/humidity measurements, Traceable accuracy, Modular architecture, Drift-free sensing technologies, Easy maintenance & calibration possibilities, CMP10 Secondary Standard Kipp & Zonen Pyranometer, WiFi module
- RS485, 2-wire, half-duplex/WiFi
Smart solar monitoring with smart weather stations
Learn more about our large PV / solar monitoring projects in the US:
WS500-UMB and WS503-UMB compact weather stations monitor large solar plant in the Imperial Valley
The Imperial Valley Solar Company (IVSC) has built the largest photo-voltaic power plant of the US. The 360 million U.S. dollar Imperial Valley Solar plant is one of five planned plants in this region. It is the first to be connected to the public electricity supply of San Diego Gas & Electric energy service. Accurate weather monitoring in real-time and accurate weather forecasts by the Lufft sensors, allow public utility service providers to take advantage of the predicted available energy from renewable sources. Thus, shortages can be avoided by efficient performance management of electricity and other energy resources.
The WS500- and WS503-UMB all-in-one sensors are an important part of this project. Our longtime partner and supplier of measurement and communication solutions Trimark Associates was responsible for planning, implementation and monitoring of the Imperial Valley Solar 1 plant. The decision to use Lufft weather sensors for monitoring was taken because of their high quality. Professional weather sensors are normally used only in the industrial sector and are highly reliable. But also the low maintenance requirements convinced the executives at Trimark Associates
Learn more in the blog post about the project in the Imperial Valley
National Guard of Virginia relies on photovoltaics monitoring by Lufft sensors
The Virginia National Guard 183rd Regiment decided to complete a solar installation at their Regional Training Institute (RTI) at Fort Pickett, VA. The project, a $2.2 million, 488 kilowatt solar array that measures 10,000 square yards and consists of nearly 2,000 individual solar panels, provides the RTI with nearly 80 percent of its daytime energy needs. This field is estimated to produce 712,000 kilowatt hours per year and was installed adjacent to the RTI campus.
The wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity and air pressure is monitored by the Lufft WS500 weather sensor. All sensor data are fed into a Schneider Electric BAS (Building Automation System) displaying them on the customer’s energy management dashboard.
Evergreen Solar was the responsible for the installation with oversight from Schneider Electric.
