Are these manipulation of SWAT+ possible?

[Chong Seok Choi]

Hello,

I'm trying to simulate the impact of a regularly spaced rows of canopy (solar panels) on the runoff response of the landscape. To do this, I want to manipulate the model in a few ways, and I wanted to tap into the collective brain power of the SWAT+ users to see if these manipulations of the model would be possible:

1. I want to treat the solar panels as plant canopy with infinite storage and increase precipitation in the pixels around the solar panels by a certain factor of the background rainfall to emulate the concentration of rainfall from the solar panels towards the lower edge of the panels. 

2. To emulate the partial shading from the solar panels. I want to adjust the solar radiation in certain pixels between the rows of solar panels by a factor.

Would I be able to do this by creating a special land use class for areas around and between the solar panels?

Thank you so much for your time, and I look forward to your response.

Best regards,

Chong Seok

[Natalja C.]

Hi Seong Seok,

It’s funny you bring this up, not long ago we were actually brainstorming the exact same question.

I think your proposed solution is definitely plausible (leaving aside the assumption of infinite storage). The main thing to consider is the spatial routing: you would need to manually route your "solar panel" HRUs to the neighboring "plant" HRUs. That way, all the surface runoff generated by the solar panels actually ends up on the adjacent vegetation instead of becoming a direct contribution to streamflow, which is what would happen if you just used a classical watershed discretization. 
The manual re-routing can be done via script (advanced) or one by one in the editor in the connections section.

Good luck,

Natalja

[Chong Seok Choi]

Hi Natalja!

I don't know if you remember me, but we actually talked about this for a little bit at last year's AGU in front of your poster :) I also went to your beginner's tutorial at SWAT+ workshop earlier that year.

Thanks for telling me about the re-routing. That's actually a way simpler and elegant solution.

Is there also a way to use different weather file (like reduced sunlight conditions) for a certain land covers or even certain HRU than others?

Hope you're doing well.

Best regards,

Chong Seok

[Natalja C.]

Hello,

I certainly remember our conversation! It is great to hear that you are still pursuing this research.

Yes, you can assign different weather stations to different HRUs. This is all handled in the HRU setup and connections file. It should be self-explanatory if you have a grasp of the relational database concept.

Cheers,

Natalja