Sutron Corporation delivered an AWS with Sun Tracker in order to help the Energy Center at KNUST observe and analyze the sun’s radiation, i.e., global solar radiation (pyranometer), diffused solar radiation (pyranometer with shadding assembly), direct normal irradiance or DNI (pyrheliometer), and sunshine duration.

1. Sutron Corporation | 22400 Davis Drive | Sterling, VA 20164 | 703.406.2800 | www.sutron.com | sales@sutron.com
February 2, 2015
Automatic Weather Station with Sun Tracker
Energy Center, KNUST/African Grid Solar Project
Kumasi, Ghana
CLIENT The Energy Center / Solar
Capacity Upgrading Project
PROJECT
LOCATION
Kwame Nkrumah University
of Science and Technology,
(KNUST) Kumasi, Ghana
PROJECT
PURPOSE
Measure weather & solar
radiation data for solar energy
applications
CONTACT(S)
INFORMATION
 Name – David Ato Quansah
 Title – Coordinator
SolarCUP
 Email - daquansah.coe@
knust.edu.gh
CONTRACT # Contract #: TEC/SolarCUP-
ICB/01/20
VALUE $100,000
AWARD &
COMPLETION
DATES
November, 2011 awarded
May 2, 2012 completed
EQUIPMENT &
SERVICES
Automatic Weather station
with Sun Tracker
 One AT/RH Sensor
 One Barometric Pressure
Sensor
 One Ultrasonic Wind speed
& Wind direction sensor
 One rain gauge tipping
bucket sensor
 Two Pyranometers sensors
 One Pyrheliometer sensor
 One Sunshine duration
sensor
 One Sun Tracker Device
 One tower and lightning
 Data acquisition system
running Sutron’s XConnect
Software
 Installation & Training
TELEMETRY &
RECEIVE SITES
GSM/GPRS & Ethernet
Communications
MEASURED
PARAMETERS
Wind speed & direction
Air temperature, humidity &
dew point
Precipitation
Sunshine hours
Global solar radiation
Diffused solar radiation
Direct normal irradiance
Barometric pressure
Overview
Weather can greatly affect the power output of any solar-based energy
system.
Sutron Corporation delivered an AWS with Sun Tracker in order to help the
Energy Center at KNUST observe and analyze the sun’s radiation, i.e., global
solar radiation (pyranometer), diffused solar radiation (pyranometer with
shadding assembly), direct normal irradiance or DNI (pyrheliometer), and
sunshine duration.
Sutron uses a SOLYS 2 two-axis Sun Tracker as an all-weather positioning
platform used to point specialized instruments at the sun’s movement across
the sky. The integrated GPS receiver synchronizes the tracker to accurately
track the sun’s path.
The system is also supplied with a central Data Acquisition Server running
Sutron’s XConnect data acquisition software. This software allows for
automatic polling on a user defined schedule via the Ethernet connection
between the server and the station. The user can then access the data on the
server for further processing, such as viewing the data in a graph, plot and
table or data exporting into third party software. Important features for the
user are weekly, monthly, yearly averages and computations for all parameters;
this is made available to the user via the XConnect software.
KNUST Engineers

2. Sutron Corporation Automatic Weather Station with Sun Tracker 2
Sutron Corporation | 22400 Davis Drive | Sterling, VA 20164 | 703.406.2800 | www.sutron.com | sales@sutron.com
February 2, 2015
Results & Benefits
This station has been designed and built to
provide accurate solar radiation data because it is
using a Sun tracker platform which points all the
radiometers toward the sun.
Inclement weather can reduce a PV system’s
capacity to absorb solar energy. This station
provides weather data which will help the user
understand its impacts on solar energy output for
a given site.
The system was meant to transmit data via GSM/
GPRS to the Central Server. But since the station
was installed on the roof, with the use of the built-
in Ethernet port, we were able to simply connect
the server to the Station using that Ethernet port.
This completely eliminated the monthly recurring
telecommunications service cost.
Sutron & KNUST Engineers with Sun Tracking Device
Sutron & KNUST Engineers with Sun Tracking Device