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Comparative study of mathematical models in estimating solar irradiance for Australia

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  • Copper, J.K.
  • Sproul, A.B.

Abstract

Hourly diffuse and direct solar irradiance data are required for weather files used in building energy simulation as well as Photovoltaic and solar thermal calculations. Access to up to date hourly observation data or satellite derived data for these parameters is currently only available for a selection of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology measurement locations. This study aims to investigate the accuracy of the methods used to estimate solar irradiance data from meteorological observations either in the absence of observed irradiance data or when irradiance observations are limited to global irradiance. In particular the focus of this paper is to investigate the accuracy of the process of coupling together global and direct/diffuse models. Five global and four diffuse/direct irradiance models are presented and compared to experimental data for four locations in Australia. In the case where experimental global irradiance data is available, values are used as input into various models to obtain diffuse and direct irradiance. In the absence of experimental irradiance data, the approach taken is to estimate global irradiance with a separate model and then feed these values into the diffuse/direct models. The errors associated with both of these approaches are investigated by comparing the modelled diffuse and direct irradiance values with known experimental data for four Australian locations over a period of a number of years. This study indicates that no single diffuse/direct irradiance model consistently outperformed the other models at estimating diffuse and direct irradiance whilst the Zhang and Huang global irradiance model with coefficients from Seo and Huang achieved the best estimates of global irradiance for the locations investigated. For the approach where global irradiance is estimated from a model, the resulting direct and diffuse data was found to differ significantly from the experimental data. The results indicate that the individual models that achieved the best estimates of global irradiance did not achieve the best estimates of diffuse and direct irradiance when coupled with a diffuse/direct model.

Suggested Citation

  • Copper, J.K. & Sproul, A.B., 2012. "Comparative study of mathematical models in estimating solar irradiance for Australia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 130-139.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:43:y:2012:i:c:p:130-139
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2011.11.050
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Torres, J.L. & De Blas, M. & García, A. & de Francisco, A., 2010. "Comparative study of various models in estimating hourly diffuse solar irradiance," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1325-1332.
    2. Ridley, Barbara & Boland, John & Lauret, Philippe, 2010. "Modelling of diffuse solar fraction with multiple predictors," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 478-483.
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    1. Copper, J.K. & Sproul, A.B., 2013. "Comparative building simulation study utilising measured and estimated solar irradiance for Australian locations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 86-93.
    2. Sun, Xixi & Bright, Jamie M. & Gueymard, Christian A. & Acord, Brendan & Wang, Peng & Engerer, Nicholas A., 2019. "Worldwide performance assessment of 75 global clear-sky irradiance models using Principal Component Analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 550-570.
    3. Every, Jeremy P. & Li, Li & Dorrell, David G., 2020. "Köppen-Geiger climate classification adjustment of the BRL diffuse irradiation model for Australian locations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 2453-2469.
    4. Copper, J.K. & Sproul, A.B. & Jarnason, S., 2016. "Photovoltaic (PV) performance modelling in the absence of onsite measured plane of array irradiance (POA) and module temperature," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 760-769.
    5. Lin, Chun-Tin & Chang, Keh-Chin & Chung, Kung-Ming, 2023. "Re-modeling the solar diffuse fraction in Taiwan on basis of a typical-meteorological-year data," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 823-835.
    6. Pérez-Burgos, Ana & Román, Roberto & Bilbao, Julia & de Miguel, Argimiro & Oteiza, Pilar, 2015. "Reconstruction of long-term direct solar irradiance data series using a model based on the Cloud Modification Factor," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 115-124.

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