Question-and-Answer Resource for the Building Energy Modeling Community
 | 1 | initial version |
(some of this repeats what I had posted on EnergyPlus_Support in answer to @zach1220)
When I work with WU data, I "borrow" the Cloud Cover data from the nearest Integrated Surface Database (ISD) station. The ISD is a large database maintained by the US National Climatic Data Center (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/isd) that contains roughly 8,000-9,000 active weather stations around the world.
In your case, there is a weather file for the Cardiff IAP in the ISD, which may have the same data as in the WU file, since WU contains both Personal Weather Stations (PWS), mostly in the US, and official weather station, i.e., the same ones that report to the ISD.
You might also look at what Lukas Rokka in Sweden did in 2012 with his "Real-Time Weather Converter" that can create a historical weather file combining the ISD data with satellite-derived solar from the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (STRÅNG) for any place in Northern Europe, including the entire UK. I have never had need to try it, but you might find it useful ( https://sites.google.com/site/weatherconverter/ ). If you do, do me a favor and let me know what you find out. BTW, satellite-derived solar has been found to be very accurate, better than any cloud-base model.
| | 2 | No.2 Revision |
(some of this repeats what I had posted on EnergyPlus_Support in answer to @zach1220)
When I work with WU data, I "borrow" the Cloud Cover data from the nearest Integrated Surface Database (ISD) station. The ISD is a large database maintained by the US National Climatic Data Center (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/isd) that contains roughly 8,000-9,000 active weather stations around the world.
In your case, there is a weather file for the Cardiff IAP in the ISD, which may have the same data as in the WU file, since WU contains both Personal Weather Stations (PWS), mostly in the US, and official weather station, i.e., the same ones that report to the ISD.
You might also look at what Lukas Rokka in Sweden did in 2012 with his "Real-Time Weather Converter" that can create a historical weather file combining the ISD data with satellite-derived solar from the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (STRÅNG) for any place in Northern Europe, including the entire UK. I have never had need to try it, but you might find it useful ( https://sites.google.com/site/weatherconverter/ (https://sites.google.com/site/weatherconverter/ unmaintained link - now at Shiny weather data). If you do, do me a favor and let me know what you find out. BTW, satellite-derived solar has been found to be very accurate, better than any cloud-base model.
