The High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model for the continental United States will now include reduced incoming solar radiation during eclipses for the next 40 years. This addition to the model will be operational for the continental United States for the first time this Saturday as a much-anticipated annular eclipse tracks across the West, with a partial eclipse seen everywhere else across the country. During the total eclipse of August 2017, reduced solar radiation associated with the eclipse was added to the experimental HRRR model, and it worked well for both that eclipse and a partial solar eclipse in arctic regions in June 2021.
This addition will be helpful to the energy industry to be able to predict wind and especially solar power generation during the eclipse. It will contribute even more significantly during the total eclipse of April 2024, when the sun is higher in the sky and will be completely covered for several minutes, impacts many more people, and thus will reduce incoming solar radiation even more and have a greater impact on energy.
