Analysis of Experimental Solar Radiation Data for Osogbo, Nigeria

Abstract

An analysis of measured global solar radiation (GR) in Osogbo (7.77oN, 4.57oE, 288m) is presented in the form of hourly average, monthly average and percentage frequency distribution. The experimental data corresponds to a year data of 2017. The results reveal that the monthly average values of daily total radiation exhibit seasonal variation with maximum value in dry season month of March (16.59MJ/m2) and minimum value in wet season month of August (8.98 MJ/m2). The annual average GR value is 14.20 MJ/m2 while the annual cumulative GR is 5122 MJ/m2. The solar radiation climate of Osogbo has also been compared to those reported for a number of locations. The percentage frequency of days possessing irradiation rate greater than 15 MJ/m2 is 14 percent whereas that possessing less than 10 MJ/m2 is 61 percent. We conclude, based upon the above analysis that Osogbo is characterized by relatively low global solar radiation.