Abstract
The lack of measured data for global solar insolation in the Argentine Northwest (ANW) was supplied using free-access databases available on the Internet. For Salta Capital metropolitan region, measured monthly mean global solar insolation and estimated monthly values from SWERA, SoDa and SSE databases are compared. The objective was to determine the degree of correlation of each database with measured values and the origin in found differences. SWERA data happened to be the best correlation, with the measured data (average RMSE% = 14%). The other databases have errors above 24 %, this being attributed to larger satellite grid cells. A linear model, developed using MLR, is presented. It offers better estimates than the databases (RMSE% of 6%), but only applies to Salta Capital.
Highlights
The lack of measured solar radiation data proves to be a subject of analysis for developing countries
1) In the data of monthly average global solar insolation measured in the Salta Capital (SLA) region there are two series that correlate as expected with SWERA estimates; 8290 and 06-07
Where n is the amount of measured absolute sunshine hours and N is the astronomical possible value, of each monthly value in 82-90 series and 91-00 series, to establish the feasibility that an actual error in the radiation sensor exists using the following reasoning: if the variations in the insolation in consecutive months are not in-keeping with similar variations in sunshine hours, it is very likely that there is a problem with the sensor
Summary
The lack of measured solar radiation data proves to be a subject of analysis for developing countries. The present study is an analysis of monthly average values of global solar radiation for the metropolitan area of Salta Capital (SLA), covering three measuring stations. It compares the measured values of global solar insolation against estimates provided by the databases SWERA [SWERA, 2010], SoDa [SoDa, 2010] and SSE [NASA, 2010]. These data include long-term estimates of meteorological quantities and surface solar energy fluxes These satellite and modeled based products have been shown to be accurate enough to provide reliable solar and meteorological resource data over regions where surface measurements are sparse or nonexistent, and offer two unique features – the data is global and, in general, contiguous in time. In the case of the grid cell of SSE, the location west of the dotted blue line, has an average height of 3500 metres while to the east the average altitude is 1200 metres
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