ISRO develops 'Solar Calculator' Android app for computing solar energy potential

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said its Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre has developed an android app for computing the solar energy potential of a place. Developed at the behest of the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the app is considered to be a "very useful" tool for installation of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels that is used for tapping solar energy, it said.

The ISRO said the app provides monthly and yearly solar potential and the minimum and the maximum temperatures at any location.

It also displays the location of a place on the satellite image as well as the day's length there during different periods in a year. According to the ISRO, features of the app include providing of solar energy potential at any given location, the required location can be keyed in or can be obtained through GPS.

It said it also gives monthly and yearly solar potential processed using Indian Geostationary Satellite data (Kalpana- 1, INSAT-3D and INSAT-3DR), and also offers monthly minimum and maximum temperature to calculate the realistic solar potential.

The obstruction of sunlight due to terrain is also calculated using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with the help of the app which also suggests optimum tilt angle for the solar PV installation.