Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Estimation of daily global solar irradiation under different sky conditions in central and southern Iran

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Theoretical and Applied Climatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Daily global solar irradiation (R s) is one of the main inputs in environmental modeling. Because of the lack of its measuring facilities, high-quality and long-term data are limited. In this research, R s values were estimated based on measured sunshine duration and cloud cover of our synoptic meteorological stations in central and southern Iran during 2008, 2009, and 2011. Clear sky solar irradiation was estimated from linear regression using extraterrestrial solar irradiation as the independent variable with normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) of 4.69 %. Daily R s was calibrated using measured sunshine duration and cloud cover data under different sky conditions during 2008 and 2009. The 2011 data were used for model validation. According to the results, in the presence of clouds, the R s model using sunshine duration data was more accurate when compared with the model using cloud cover data (NRMSE = 11. 69 %). In both models, with increasing sky cloudiness, the accuracy decreased. In the study region, more than 92 % of sunshine durations were clear or partly cloudy, which received close to 95 % of total solar irradiation. Hence, it was possible to estimate solar irradiation with a good accuracy in most days with the measurements of sunshine duration.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen RG, Pereira LS, Raes D, Smith M (1998) Crop evapotranspiration—guidelines for computing crop water requirements-FAO Irrigation and drainage paper 56. FAO, Rome 300(9)

  • Almorox J, Benito M, Hontoria C (2008) Estimation of global solar radiation in Venezuela. Interciencia-caracas- 33(4):280

    Google Scholar 

  • Almorox JY, Hontoria C (2004) Global solar radiation estimation using sunshine duration in Spain. Energy Convers Manag 45(9):1529–1535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angstrom A (1924) Solar and terrestrial radiation. Report to the international commission for solar research on actinometric investigations of solar and atmospheric radiation. Q J R Meteorol Soc 50(210):121–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Awachie I, Okeke C (1990) New empirical solar model and its use in predicting global solar irradiation. Nigerian J Solar Energy 9:143–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Badescu V, Dumitrescu A (2013) New models to compute solar global hourly irradiation from point cloudiness. Energy Convers Manag 67:75–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Badescu V, Gueymard CA, Cheval S, et al. (2013) Accuracy analysis for fifty-four clear-sky solar radiation models using routine hourly global irradiance measurements in Romania. Renew Energy 55:85–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Behrang M, Assareh E, Noghrehabadi A, Ghanbarzadeh A (2011) New sunshine-based models for predicting global solar radiation using PSO (particle swarm optimization) technique. Energy 36(5):3036–3049

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bird RE, Riordan C (1986) Simple solar spectral model for direct and diffuse irradiance on horizontal and tilted planes at the earth’s surface for cloudless atmospheres. J Clim Appl Meteorol 25(1):87–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calbó J, González J-A, Pagès D (2001) A method for sky-condition classification from ground-based solar radiation measurements. J Appl Meteorol 40(12):2193–2199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehnberg JS, Bollen MH (2005) Simulation of global solar radiation based on cloud observations. Sol Energy 78(2):157–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guide W (2006) Guide to meteorological instruments and methods of observation. Genf, Schweiz, Secretariat of the WMO: sn

  • Gul MS, Muneer T, Kambezidis HD (1998) Models for obtaining solar radiation from other meteorological data. Sol Energy 64(1):99–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofierka J, Suri M (2002) The solar radiation model for open source GIS: implementation and applications. Proceedings of the Open source GIS-GRASS users conference, In, pp. 1–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Iziomon M, Mayer H (2001) Performance of solar radiation models—a case study. Agric For Meteorol 110(1):1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iziomon M, Mayer H (2002) Assessment of some global solar radiation parameterizations. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 64(15):1631–1643

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Javadi S, Moini S A new solar radiation models for IRAN. In: Proceedings of the 14th WSEAS international conference on Systems: part of the 14th WSEAS CSCC multiconference-Volume I, 2010. World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society (WSEAS), p 106–110

  • Kamel M, Shalaby S, Mostafa S (1993) Solar radiation over Egypt: comparison of predicted and measured meteorological data. Sol Energy 50(6):463–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kasten F (1983) Parametrisierung der Globalstrahlung durch Bedeckungsgrad und Trübungsfaktor. Ann Meteorol 20:49–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Kasten F, Czeplak G (1980) Solar and terrestrial radiation dependent on the amount and type of cloud. Sol Energy 24(2):177–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khorasanizadeh H, Mohammadi K (2013) Prediction of daily global solar radiation by day of the year in four cities located in the sunny regions of Iran. Energy Convers Manag 76:385–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim H-C, Hofmann EE (2005) Evaluation and derivation of cloud-cover algorithms for calculation of surface irradiance in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic environments. Antarct Sci 17(01):135–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu D, Scott B (2001) Estimation of solar radiation in Australia from rainfall and temperature observations. Agric For Meteorol 106(1):41–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Mei X, Li Y, Wang Q, Zhang Y, Porter JR (2009) Variation in reference crop evapotranspiration caused by the Ångström–Prescott coefficient: locally calibrated versus the FAO recommended. Agric Water Manag 96(7):1137–1145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menges HO, Ertekin C, Sonmete MH (2006) Evaluation of global solar radiation models for Konya, Turkey. Energy Convers Manag 47(18):3149–3173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meza F, Varas E (2000) Estimation of mean monthly solar global radiation as a function of temperature. Agric For Meteorol 100(2):231–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moradi I (2009) Quality control of global solar radiation using sunshine duration hours. Energy 34(1):1–6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muneer T, Gul M (2000) Evaluation of sunshine and cloud cover based models for generating solar radiation data. Energy Convers Manag 41(5):461–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paulescu M, Schlett Z (2004) Performance assessment of global solar irradiation models under Romanian climate. Renew Energy 29(5):767–777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Podestá GP, Núñez L, Villanueva CA, Skansi MA (2004) Estimating daily solar radiation in the Argentine Pampas. Agric For Meteorol 123(1):41–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahimikhoob A (2010) Estimating global solar radiation using artificial neural network and air temperature data in a semi-arid environment. Renew Energy 35(9):2131–2135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robaa S (2009) Validation of the existing models for estimating global solar radiation over Egypt. Energy Convers Manag 50(1):184–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabziparvar AA, Shetaee H (2007) Estimation of global solar radiation in arid and semi-arid climates of East and West Iran. Energy 32(5):649–655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton PE, Running SW (1999) An improved algorithm for estimating incident daily solar radiation from measurements of temperature, humidity, and precipitation. Agric For Meteorol 93(4):211–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trnka M, Žalud Z, Eitzinger J, Dubrovský M (2005) Global solar radiation in Central European lowlands estimated by various empirical formulae. Agric For Meteorol 131(1):54–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilks D (1999) Simultaneous stochastic simulation of daily precipitation, temperature and solar radiation at multiple sites in complex terrain. Agric For Meteorol 96(1):85–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu G, Liu Y, Wang T (2007) Methods and strategy for modeling daily global solar radiation with measured meteorological data—a case study in Nanchang station, China. Energy Convers Manag 48(9):2447–2452

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural College, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Shohreh Didari & Shahrokh Zand-Parsa

Authors
  1. Shohreh Didari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shahrokh Zand-Parsa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shahrokh Zand-Parsa.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Didari, S., Zand-Parsa, S. Estimation of daily global solar irradiation under different sky conditions in central and southern Iran. Theor Appl Climatol 127, 587–596 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1651-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1651-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation