Development of a Daily Databank of Solar Radiation Components for Moroccan Territory

Rachid Tadili,Mohammed Benchrifa,Abdellah Mechaqrane,Mohammed N Bargach,Hajar Essalhi

doi:10.1155/2019/6067539

Rachid Tadili, Mohammed Benchrifa + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/6067539

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Abstract

The main objective of this work is to create a daily updated database that includes all components of solar radiation, either energetic or spectral radiation. This will lead us to quantify the Moroccan solar potential and to determine the dimensions of all types of solar thermal and photovoltaic systems. Consequently, the obtained database will be the fundamental support for engineers, designers, and all organizations interested in developing solar systems, in different regions throughout Morocco. It will also be a basic tool for researchers in modelling and simulating the new solar systems. Firstly, we used one year’s worth of measurements of the different components of the solar radiation, provided by the National Meteorological Department, to establish the extrapolation equations between the global radiation at the reference site and the global radiation of twenty-eight other sites. As well as with the same measurements, we developed the correlation equations between the global solar radiation and the other solar radiation components. Secondly, from ten years of Fez station’s daily global radiation measurements and through the extrapolation equations, we were able to estimate the global radiation of all Moroccan cities. Then, by using the obtained global radiation data and the correlation equations, we predicted the other components of solar radiation. Subsequently, with a new measurement campaign carried out on several sites, we validated the estimation models by using the usual statistical indicators. In addition, we compared our results with those obtained by other estimation models. The resulting differences for each solar component display the advantage of our model with errors under 6%. To facilitate the use of our results, we compiled them into maps representing the spread of solar radiation across Morocco.

Highlights

The various applications of solar energy developed in recent years have increased the need for solar radiation component data
We can cite physical models, empirical models [1,2,3], artificial neural network models [4,5,6,7], hybrid models using a combination of several methods [8, 9], and the models based on the satellite images data [10, 11]
The physical models are based on physical parameters, which estimates the global radiation from insolation duration [12, 13], meteorological variables [14, 15], and spatial variables [16] in different sky conditions [17, 18]

Summary

Introduction

The various applications of solar energy developed in recent years have increased the need for solar radiation component data. In most cases, there are not enough stations covering the entire country, and the existing stations do not measure all energetic and spectral components of solar radiation. To remedy this problem, several works using different prediction models have been developed to estimate these solar components around the world. Several works using different prediction models have been developed to estimate these solar components around the world Among these models, we can cite physical models, empirical models [1,2,3], artificial neural network models [4,5,6,7], hybrid models using a combination of several methods [8, 9], and the models based on the satellite images data [10, 11]. The same parameters have been used to predict the direct [26], inclined [27] solar radiation and spectral solar components [28, 29]

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