Global solar radiation estimation from commonly available meteorological data for Bangladesh

Abstract

In this study, several regression models were employed to estimate global solar radiation from commonly available meteorological data such as sunshine duration, temperature, precipitation, and cloud cover for 34 meteorological stations of Bangladesh. The models studied were calibrated using five meteorological stations that are providing global solar radiation as well as other meteorological data. Estimated values were also compared with measured values in terms of statistical evaluation indicators like the coefficient of determination $$(R^{2}),$$ mean percentage error, mean bias error, root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute relative error, and t statistic. The statistical analysis showed that the models assessed were well suited to accurately estimate the solar potential. Sunshine duration-based models performed best, and cloud cover-based models performed worst. Among 45 developed models to predict solar radiation, the models with RMSE value lower than 0.2 are recommended for use.