The TMY3s are data sets of hourly values of solar radiation and meteorological elements for a 1-year period. Their intended use is for computer simulations of solar energy conversion systems and building systems to facilitate performance comparisons of different system types, configurations, and locations in the United States and its territories. Because they represent typical rather than extreme conditions, they are not suited for designing systems to meet the worst-case conditions occurring at a location.
TMY, TMY2 and TMY3 data sets cannot be used interchangeably because of differences in time (solar versus local), formats, elements, and units. Unless they are revised, computer programs designed for TMY and TMY2 data will not work with TMY3 data. NREL provides a conversion program to reformat TMY3 data to TMY2 data (see the Software section below.)
If you're logged in, you can EDIT this record if you registered it or claimed it or you can CLAIM it if you want permission to edit it.