Sunshine-based Global Solar Radiation Modelling: Case Study of Putrajaya, Malaysia

Abstract

Electricity demands are on the rise and with it, carbon dioxide emissions from many conventional power plants are increasing. In the efforts to mitigate such phenomena, the Malaysian government seeks to implement Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) projects. Early stage studies on Global Solar Radiation (GSR) have been carried out in several states in Malaysia including Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Kota Bharu. Afterward, data from the Malaysia Meteorological Department and the Malaysia National University have been used to estimate the monthly average daily global radiation in various locations in Malaysia. Putrajaya, a location which is implementing Malaysian Building Integrated Photovoltaic (MBIPV) is among the locations where a GSR study is currently absent. Conventional methods exist for GSR estimation with the aid of pyranometer. However, this method of GSR estimation is time consuming and not cost-effective practice. The main objective of this study is to estimate the GSR in Putrajaya. This is achieved in this study by utilizing sunshine-based data with calculated monthly average daily extraterrestrial radiation on a horizontal surface and monthly average maximum possible daily sunshine to plot a linearly fitted graph. Coefficients in the Angstrom-Prescott (A-P) model was generated from the plotted graph and was used for GSR estimation where a = 0.5 and b = 0.11. The mean percentage error (MPE) of the GSR estimation was found to be 3.4. Therefore, the estimation of GSR in Putrajaya have been successful for the first-time using sunshine-based data from dual locations method. The GSR estimation of Putrajaya in this study could benefit stakeholders in civil development sectors, policy and energy authorities.