Deadline: As soon as Possible
Reuniwatt is seeking a skilled and motivated student intern interested in atmospheric science, statistics, and renewable energies for a 6 months internship in the ongoing project on “Solar forecast error cartography” to be based at their headquarters in Reunion Island (St Pierre), France.
Context of the Internship
Photovoltaic (PV) production forecasting essentially consists of predicting the cloud cover, and subsequently solar irradiance at ground level, at a given site. To produce such forecasts, Reuniwatt uses a multitude of technologies, such as camera-based and satellite-based methods, but also numerical weather prediction (NWP), as well as statistical and machine learning methods. The accuracy of solar irradiance forecasts depends on a multitude of factors, such as the forecast horizon, the climate at the site of interest, the applied error metrics, the temporal resolution of the forecasts, the length of the considered period, and so on. Estimating the forecast error for a given location before actually performing the forecasts is difficult and requires a database of known forecast errors depending on the various influencing factors.
Objective of the Internship
The goal of this internship is to evaluate the accuracy of solar irradiance forecasts from various sources with respect to the different influencing factors (climate, location, forecast horizon, etc.), and to create maps of forecast errors. To do so, the intern will work closely together with Reuniwatt’s experts in meteorology and geographic information systems (GIS)
Duties and Responsibilities
- Bibliographic research about solar irradiance forecast errors.
- Creation of forecast and observation data sets around the world, as well as maps of forecast errors.
- Evaluation of forecast errors under various conditions and for various climates.
- Writing documentation about your developments.
Duration of this internship is 6 months beginning as soon as possible.
Compensation: €700 raw/month (~€650/month), 1 round-trip flight ticket to Reunion Island.
Eligibility
- They are looking for a skilled and motivated intern interested in atmospheric science, statistics, and renewable energies.
- Familiarity with the concepts of geographic modelling would be an advantage.
- Experience with one or more of these tools would be a plus: Python, git, APIs, NetCDF files, shell scripting.
For more information: Visit the institution website
To apply for this Vacancy: Send your CV and cover letter to jobs@reuniwatt.com with the following subject: “forecast error cartography”.
Note: In France, an internship has more legal constraints than in some other countries. A contract between the company, the intern, and a university must be established. Thus, the intern MUST be an enrolled student at a university.
About Reuniwatt
Born under the sun of Reunion Island (Indian Ocean), Reuniwatt is a leading actor with proven expertise in cloud and solar irradiance observation and forecasting. They offer reliable products and services for various sectors including renewable energy and atmospheric science. Reuniwatt has offices in Reunion Island, Paris, and Toulouse. They have placed a particular emphasis on solar energy forecasting while developing cutting-edge solutions to improve minute-scale, hour-scale, and day-scale forecasts of cloud cover and solar irradiance. Innovation is the cornerstone of their strategy, more than 250,000 hours of internal R&D have been invested so far, resulting in 4 patents and more than 80 scientific publications.
