Abstract
The concept of solar energy and its applications in present day would come to be one of the solutions to our Nigerian problem of instability and epileptic power supply. In this study, data for mean monthly sunshine hours and global solar radiation for Ikeja, Lagos state capital (6.580N, 3.320E) were obtained from Nigeria Metrological Agency (NiMeT), Oshodi Lagos, Nigeria and spanned 1996 to 2010. The data for global solar radiation were measured using a Gunn-Bellani radiometer. A linear regression correlation model was developed for Ikeja and other surrounding area in south-western part of Nigeria with similar meteorological conditions. The results of estimated global solar radiation ranged from 5.1 MJm-2 day-1 on average for August and 13.1 MJm-2 day-1 for March for Lagos. The Angstrom constants a and b of Angstrom-type correlation to estimate monthly average global solar radiation was estimated to be 0.25 and 0.63 respectively. The result for global solar radiation were then subjected to statistical tests [MBE, RMSE, MPE] and proved to be good estimates. The value of clearness index was also estimated to range from 0.31 to 0.59 showing Lagos as a partly clear sky city.
Highlights
The knowledge of solar energy applications in our world has come to be a known undiminishing clean and non-noise pollution source of renewable energy
This of which can be associated with the heavy rainfall in the area during the month; thereby reducing the sunshine hour due to more absorption, reflection or scattering of solar radiation over Ikeja in this Month
For further investigation as to why the angstrom constants for this location was high as other locations under this study, the correlation of the measured global solar radiation and these values obtained for angstrom constants was carried out and found to be 0.85
Summary
Baseline data of monthly mean global solar radiation (H) and monthly mean sunshine hour (S) data for this study were obtained from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMeT), Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria. Graphical analysis were exploited by plotting graphs of monthly mean estimated and measured global solar radiation, mean monthly sunshine hour data and mean yearly Sunshine hour data. This was done in order to make easy for the comparison of the sunshine duration and global solar radiation between the selected stations. The difference between estimated and measured values of solar radiation were determined by mean bias error (MBE), the root mean square error (RMSE) and mean percentage error (MPE). A percentage error between −10% and +10% is considered acceptable [10]
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