Solar energy resource availability under extreme and historical wildfire smoke conditions.

Kimberley A Corwin, Jesse Burkhardt, Chelsea A Corr, Paul W Stackhouse, Amit Munshi, Emily V Fischer

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Kimberley A CorwinDepartment of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA. kimberley.corwin@colostate.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1170-9395

Jesse BurkhardtDepartment of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.

Chelsea A CorrDepartment of Biology/Chemistry, Springfield College, Springfield, MA, USA.

Paul W StackhouseNASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2047-310X

Amit MunshiDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.

Emily V FischerDepartment of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.

Funding

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 80NSSC22K1539National Science Foundation (NSF) 1828902

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

By 2050, the U.S. plans to increase solar energy from 3% to 45% of the nation's electricity generation. Quantifying wildfire smoke's impact on solar photovoltaic (PV) generation is essential to meet this goal, especially given previous studies documenting sizable PV output losses due to smoke. We quantify smoke-driven changes in baseline solar resource availability [i.e., amount of direct normal (DNI) and global horizontal (GHI) irradiance] at different spatial and temporal scales using radiative transfer model output and satellite-based smoke, aerosol, and cloud observations. We show that irradiance decreases as smoke frequency increases at the state, regional, and national scale. DNI is more sensitive to smoke with sizable losses persisting downwind of fires. Large reductions in GHI-the main PV resource-are possible close to fires, but mean GHI declines minimally (<5%) due to transported smoke. PV resources remain relatively stable across most of CONUS even in extreme fire seasons.

Identifiers

PMID39746919

DOI10.1038/s41467-024-54163-8

PMCPMC11697297

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.