Development of New Models for the Estimation of Hourly Components of Solar Radiation: Tests, Comparisons, and Application for the Generation of a Solar Database in Morocco

Abstract

All studies of solar systems need the hourly values of solar fluxes related to the different components of solar radiation. However, for most sites, measurements are not available. The goal of this paper is to establish an hourly solar radiation data bank for the entirety of Morocco. This data bank will contain the energetic components (global, diffuse, direct, and inclined solar radiation) and the spectral components (ultraviolet I UV , infrared I IR , and photosynthetically active radiation I PAR ). To create this database, in the beginning, we build up models for predicting the various components of the hourly solar radiation, from measurements provided by the different stations owned by the Laboratory of Solar Energy and Environment (LESE). Then, these equations will be verified by using statistical tests. Moreover, we compared our results with those obtained by similar studies. Finally, based on the daily database of global radiation provided by the Laboratory of Solar Energy and Environment, we created an hourly database that unites the various components of solar radiation over 10 years for the entirety of Morocco. Regarding the validity study, the statistical indicators showed that the used models have minimal errors that do not exceed, for the global radiation, -2.93% in Rabat, -3.9% in Tangier,-3.28% in Marrakech, and -0.85% in Fez, and for diffuse radiation, -1.09% in Rabat, -0.68% in Fez,-3.08% in Tangier, and -2.49% in Marrakech. These results show the good quality of the used estimation models. Thus, the data bank that we have realized will fill the gap of the hourly solar data and will meet the needs of engineers, installers of solar systems, and researchers who often need an extensive database.

New Decomposition Models for Hourly Direct Normal Irradiance Estimations for Southern Africa

“…The development of the decomposition model in South America includes Brazil [28], Argentina and Brazil [29]. Northern African models include Nigeria [30], Algeria [31] and Morocco [32].…”

“…The BRL model by Ridley et al developed a method to construct multiple variable logistic models for the diffuse solar fraction, which includes Mozambique [8]. Figure 2 represents these discussed models [8,[28][29][30][31][32][33] in red.…”

Development of a New Solar System for Heating and Cooling an Agricultural Greenhouse

“…Proc. 2023, 37, x 2 of 4 throughout the winter period [7][8][9][10]. Thus, worldwide, heating costs for agricultural greenhouses represent about 30% to 35% of total operating costs [11].…”

Modeling and Simulation of Hourly Irradiance for Solar Applications in Chad: Case of the City of Abeche

“…In general, in the case of daily and monthly solar radiation estimates, empirical models that on the one hand use sunshine duration measurements and on the other hand do not use sunshine duration measurements [19], techniques based on the use of artificial neural network [20], long-term daily global radiation estimation models [21] and many other techniques [22][23][24] are useful. In the case of hourly estimation of solar radiation, radiation prediction models [25] and estimation models often called semi-empirical models [4,26,27], are the models used in previous works in the literature. Studies have been carried out to evaluate the solar potential in the city of Abeche with the aim of developing solar energy as a source of energy that is not only abundant and free but also environmentally friendly.…”