RenSMART Information Pages

This page lists information pages we have published about services we offer and the information we use. We hope you will find some of it interesting and of use. Please quote us as the source if you wish to make use of this information and contact us if you have any queries about it.

The RenSMART Renewable Energy Model

The NOABL Wind Data Base for the UK
The standard wind speed model for the UK.

The PVGIS Solar Energy Database for Europe
The standard solar energy model for Europe. We have extracted the UK data.

The NASA POWER Project
This is a project that monitored global available renewable energy resources over a ten year period. The data is low resolution so we only use it where no other sources are available.

RenSMART Star Rating
How we came up with our star ratings.

Clean Energy Cash Back
The UK governments new Feed In Tariff scheme for micro generation. Staring in April 2010

Renewable Obligation Certificates
A longer running uk feed in tariff that has been replaced by the Clean Energy Cash Back scheme for micro generation

Installation Quote Comparison
RenSMART offers a quote request service. You can access this service from many of RenSMART's online tools such as the Site Planner

Energy Monitoring
RenSMART offers live internet monitoring of your energy use and generation. You can view a live example of this here

Live UK Wind Speed Map
We record hourly feeds from about 100 locations in the UK. We use this information to check that RenSMART member's wind turbines are performing as expected and alerting the member if measured output falls below expected levels.

Live UK Solar Monitoring
We record hourly satellite feeds of UK cloud cover and convert this to solar energy levels. We use this information to check that RenSMART member's solar PV installations are performing as expected and alert the member if measureds output falls below expected levels. This service has not been made available online yet

Data Services
We make some of our information available for use in other web sites. You can find information on our offerings here

Solar Panel Comparison Table

This is a table of the commonly offered solar pv panels available in the UK. The table gives information taken from the products specification sheets as supplied by the product manufacturers. This table only lists technical information, not price comparisons.

RenSMART Videos

RenSMART Online Document Library

Recommended Reading

External Links

Analysis of FiT Registered Installations 2010

Analysis of UK Inflation Rate and Domestic Electricity Prices

Average Wind Speed and Energy Distribution in the NOABL wind speed database

Average Solar Energy Distribution in the PVGIS solar energy database

Average price per watt of Solar PV installations in the UK

Average price per watt of Wind Turbine installations in the UK

Betz'Law of Wind Turbines
Defines the theoretical maximum energy that a wind turbine can capture.

How to convert from kWh to CO2

Calculating Vertical Wind Sheer
Vertical wind shear is the rate of change of the wind with respect to altitude.

Wind Speed Distribution over Time
Wind speeds rarely fit a normal distribution curve. We use a calculation based on the Weibull function to translate average wind speed to energy generated.