Abstract
Understanding solar radiation data is essential for modeling solar energy systems because it is non-polluting, non-depletable, reliable, and pollution free. Four-years measured average daily global solar radiation data on horizontal surfaces at Hebron city in Palestine were used for the model assessment. Statistical results showed that all four suggested models can accurately predict the solar irradiance of a 31° 57' N (latitude angle of Hebron) on a horizontal oriented surface, indicating the good predictive ability for modeling a horizontal surface. The obtained models have a high value of regression coefficient and give best fit through the measured values. This work illustrates also the use of mathematical formula to develop a predictive model for the duration of sunshine using measured solar radiation data for Hebron city. The present work showed that the predicted results were in good agreement with the observed data, and the expected solar radiation behavior.
Highlights
Just as the fossil fuel based energy industry relies on exploration and proven reserves for discovery and economic support of energy markets, the renewable energy sector depends upon the assessment of resources for planning and selling their energy production technology
A local study on renewable energy reported that solar technologies are potentially suitable for wide scale applications in Palestinian territories [5]. These results show that Palestine need to begin to rely more on solar energy in order to reduce the dependence on imported expensive sources of energy
The global solar radiation and sunshine duration data employed in this work were supplied by the Palestinian meteorological office
Summary
Just as the fossil fuel based energy industry relies on exploration and proven reserves for discovery and economic support of energy markets, the renewable energy sector depends upon the assessment of resources for planning and selling their energy production technology. For solar-based renewable energy technologies such as solar thermal or photovoltaic conversion systems, the basic resource or fuel available is solar radiation [1,2]. A prerequisite to the design of solar collector systems is the availability of solar irradiance data at the required location. It would be cost effective for solar collector system when the utility load and solar resource profiles are well matched. The potential solar radiation is computed based on latitude, slope, aspect, topographic shading and time during the year [15]. It is corrected for monthly sunshine hours and cloudiness factors. A comparative assessment of the irradiance and sky distribution models is reported and the characteristics of the findings are discussed
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