A growing journey of all my contributions to energy data pipelines, and all the other fancy terms I learn soon enough
- Solar Analysis What it is: An analysis of how much sunlight hits Los Angeles throughout the year, broken down by day, month, and hour.
Why it matters: Before you can build a solar farm or size a battery system, you need to know exactly how much sun a location gets — and when. This is the foundational analysis behind every real solar energy project.
Data source: NREL National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) — the same dataset used by energy researchers and engineers across the US.
What I found:
- LA solar output peaks in June/July and drops significantly in December/January
- Cloud cover events (visible as sharp dips) are most frequent in early spring
- Peak sunlight hours cluster tightly between 10am and 3pm year-round
Tools used: Python, pandas, matplotlib