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Assessment of global solar radiation to examine the best locations to install a PV system in Tunisia

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Abstract

The study of the solar radiation is the starting point of any investigation for a new energy, to study and search the best location to install a PV system. A very important factor in the assessment of solar potential is the availability of data for global solar radiation that must be coherent and of high quality. In this paper, we analyze the estimation result of the monthly global solar radiation for three different locations, Bizerte in Northern Tunisia, Kairouan in Middle Eastern Tunisia, and Tozeur in Southern Tunisia, measured on the surface by the National Institute of Meteorology and the meteorological year irradiation based on satellite imagery result PVGIS radiation databases. To get the right measurements with minimum error, we propose a numerical model used to calculate the global solar radiation in the indicated three sites. The results show that the model can estimate the global solar radiation (kWh/m²) at a specific station and over most area of Tunisia. The model gives a good estimation for solar radiation where error between the measured values and those calculated are negligible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robotics, Informatics and Complexes Systems, Laboratory LR16ES07 (RISC), National School of Engineers of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia

    Kaouther Belkilani, Afef Ben Othman & Mongi Besbes

  2. Higher Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, University of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia

    Kaouther Belkilani & Mongi Besbes

  3. National School of Engineers of Carthage, University of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia

    Afef Ben Othman

Authors
  1. Kaouther Belkilani
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  2. Afef Ben Othman
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  3. Mongi Besbes
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Correspondence to Kaouther Belkilani.

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Belkilani, K., Ben Othman, A. & Besbes, M. Assessment of global solar radiation to examine the best locations to install a PV system in Tunisia. Appl. Phys. A 124, 122 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-1551-3

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