IEC TS 62862-1-3:2017

Overview

IEC TS 62862-1-3:2017 defines a standardized data format for meteorological data sets used in the context of solar thermal electric plants. Its primary goal is to reduce effort and errors in data exchange by prescribing a clear, platform‑independent file structure and metadata conventions that ease sharing measured, modeled, satellite-derived, synthetic and forecast meteorological data for solar energy applications.

Key topics and requirements

• ASCII-based file with structured header: Files begin with a version marker (e.g. #MET_IEC.v1.0) and include a fixed number of header lines before the data section. The header supplies metadata needed to interpret the data.
• Mandatory character set declaration: The second line must declare #characterset (examples include code pages or ISO/IEC-8859‑1) to ensure consistent text interpretation across systems.
• Delimiter and end‑of‑line options: The format supports common delimiters (space, ;, ,, tab) and newline conventions (\n or \r\n) for cross‑platform compatibility.
• Explicit data block markers: Data begins after the #begindata header field and ends with #enddata. Column order matches the channel descriptions defined in the header.
• Time-stamps and averaging: Time format follows ISO 8601 (YYYY‑MM‑DDTHH:MM:SS.ssss). Averaged values must be timestamped at the end of the integration period (meteorological convention); special rules apply for sun elevation/zenith angles to allow correct DNI calculations.
• Comprehensive metadata tables: The specification includes tables for general header fields, intellectual property, location, time, gap treatment, quality control, channel descriptions and variable definitions to standardize metadata and reduce ambiguity.
• Conversion-friendly: Designed to be human-readable ASCII that can be mapped to XML or other exchange formats for web services and simulation tools.

Applications and users

This technical specification is useful for:

• Solar thermal plant designers and engineers performing site assessment and performance modeling
• Meteorologists and data providers preparing meteorological time series for solar energy applications
• Researchers developing typical meteorological years (TMY), forecasted data sets, or synthetic datasets
• Software developers building simulation, resource assessment, or quality‑control tools for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and other solar systems
• Operators and analysts sharing data between organizations, vendors and modelling tools

Practical benefits include fewer exchange errors, faster integration into simulation workflows, and standardized metadata that supports automated quality control and reproducible analyses.

Related standards

• ISO 8601 (date/time representation)
• ANSI INCITS 4‑1986 (7‑bit ASCII character set)
• Other parts of the IEC 62862 series for solar thermal electric plants

Keywords: IEC TS 62862-1-3:2017, data format for meteorological data sets, solar thermal electric plants, meteorological file format, ISO 8601, ASCII, metadata, CSP, TMY.