The sun’s total and spectral irradiance for solar energy applications and solar radiation models

Currently, 80% of conventional energy is used to fulfill general public's needs andindustries. The depletion of oil and gas reserves and rapid growth in conventional energyconsumption have continuously forced us to discover renewable energy sources, like solar, wind,biomass, and hydropower, to support economic development in the future. Solar energy travels at aspeed of 186,000 miles per second. Only a small part of the radiant energy that the sun emits intospace ever reaches the Earth, but that is more than enough to supply all our energy demand.Indonesia is a tropical country and located in the equator line, so it has an abundant potential ofsolar energy. Most of Indonesian area get enough intensity of solar radiation with the average dailyradiation around 4 kWh/m2. Basically, the solar systems use solar collectors and concentrators forcollecting, storing, and using solar radiation to be applied for the benefit of domestics, commercials,and industrials. Common applications for solar thermal energy used in industry are the SWHs, solardryers, space heating, cooling systems and water desalination.

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Solar Energy Potential Assessment in the Algerian South Area: Case of Ghardaïa Region

Journal of Renewable Energy ◽

10.1155/2013/496348 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2013 ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Kacem Gairaa ◽

Yahia Bakelli

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Solar Energy ◽

Energy Potential ◽

Energy Applications ◽

Energy Technologies ◽

Natural Energy ◽

Clean Environment ◽

Promising Solution ◽

Hourly Distribution ◽

Sky Conditions

Due to its geographical position in the solar belt, Algeria is blessed with an abundance of solar energy and has the opportunity to utilize this bounty of natural energy effectively, promoting a clean environment and developing renewable energy technologies in the region. This paper assesses and analyses the solar energy potential in Ghardaïa area (south Algeria) to help users for solar energy applications. A database of solar radiation components has been employed for this purpose. The data presented in the paper are compared with other data supplied by renowned regional and international establishments, such as the solar atlas for the Mediterranean and the NASA. The frequency and the hourly distribution of solar radiation components indicate that the region is considered as an economical area and favorable for solar applications, such as the photovoltaic and the concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies. In addition to solar radiation, data of two functions, namely, clearness index and sunshine fraction have been examined; their results specify that the site has a clear sky conditions in most time of the year. In general, the obtained results illustrate that the site under consideration can use solar energy as a promising solution to conventional energy.

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Study of the Intensity of Global Solar Radiation Incident in Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.770.229 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 770 ◽

pp. 229-232

Author(s):

A. Sansomboon ◽

N. Luewarasirikul ◽

A. Ittipongse ◽

W. Phae-Ngam ◽

S. Pattarapanitchai

Keyword(s):

Solar Radiation ◽

Solar Energy ◽

Alternative Energy ◽

Global Radiation ◽

Global Solar Radiation ◽

Digital Data ◽

Data Logger ◽

Language Version ◽

Energy Applications ◽

Yearly Average

Solar radiation is one of mains alternative energy, widely used in present day. Measure solar radiation accurately is an essential for planning in application of used. Universities are the places that have used significant of energy all year long. Therefore, long-term measured solar radiation data is important, for understand in both quantity and variation in time period, for application of the alternative energy in future. The main objective of this research is to investigate solar energy potentials of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bongkok, Thailand (Latitude 13.46°N, Longitude 100.31°E). A station for solar radiation was installed at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The main equipment is composed of two parts: 1) a pyranometer from Kipp & Zonen Ltd., model CMP11, and 2) a digital data logger from Measurement Systems Ltd. model DX2000. The pyranometer is permanently installed on the top of a building. The data logger is keeping clean and safe inside the building. To analyze the values of the global solar radiations, the computer source code is written in Interactive Data Language version 6.1 (IDL6.1). The results show the variation of the average hourly global irradiance is about 800-900 W/m2 at 12:00 UTC. The maximum monthly average daily global radiation is 21.5 MJ/m2-day in April. The yearly average daily radiation at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University is found to be 16.55 MJ/m2-day. The information from the monthly and yearly global radiation has relatively high solar energy potentials. Finally, the solar radiation database was also developed for use in solar energy applications in Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University and neighbor areas.

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