Abstract
The detailed knowledge of the local solar radiation is important but, measuring instruments are not readily available in many places, particularly in Ethiopia. Therefore, this work focused on the application of climate data to compare sunshine and temperature based empirical equation of the global solar radiation in Kombolcha sites, Amhara region, Ethiopia. For data obtained in a period of 2008 to 2017 from the Kombolcha meteorological agency correlations be tested for errors using: Mean Bias error (MBE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Percentage Error (MPE), and correlation Coefficient (r). The latest computing MATLAB soft ware and excel spread sheet has been used for the entire analysis. The empirical equation having the least error was selected for Kombolcha sites. Therefore, according to accuracy the Hargreaves and Samani empirical equation is suitable for Kombolcha sites than Angstrom-Prescott empirical equation. The abundant average global solar radiation of 6.19 KWh/m<sup>2</sup>/day and 7.09 KWh/m<sup>2</sup>/day was estimated using sun shine and temperature based empirical equation respectively. This result showed that there is good solar potential in Kombolcha, Amhara region, Ethiopia.
Highlights
Electricity access in Ethiopia is one of the lowest in the Africa
Accurate design of solar energy systems requires proper knowledge of global solar radiation falling on the earth's surface
Where H is the solar radiation (MJm-2day-1), Ho is the extraterrestrial radiation (MJm-2day-1), Tmax is the maximum temperature (°C), Tmin is the minimum temperature (°C) and Kr is the empirical coefficient which is recommended to be 0.16 for interior regions and 0.19 for coastal regions
Summary
Electricity access in Ethiopia is one of the lowest in the Africa. Only 25 percent of the population has access to electricity while the geographic electricity network coverage reaches 60 percent (GTP II, 2015). Enhancing adequate, reliable, and affordable electricity access is vital for the country's socio-economic development and transformation since it is a key input to all sectors in the economy. Accurate design of solar energy systems requires proper knowledge of global solar radiation falling on the earth's surface. There are no properly recorded radiation data. What is usually available is sun- shine duration data obtained by a sunshine recorder. Ethiopia is one of such country, which lacks properly recorded solar radiation data like many other countries. From the given number of sunshine hours and local atmospheric conditions data (relative humidity, rain fall, maximum and minimum temperature) with the help of empirical model the daily average solar radiation can be estimated [4].
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