Correlation of Global Solar Irradiance with some Meteorological Parameters and Validation of some Existing Solar Radiation Models with Measured Data Over Selected Climatic Zones In Nigeria.

Abstract

Fourteen models comprising of 12 existing and 2 parameterized models are evaluated for predicting the global solar irradiance on a horizontal surface at six different sites representative of six different climatic zones of Nigeria namely; Mangrove swamp forest (Calabar), Sahel Savannah (Nguru), Montane Vegetation (Yola), Sudan Savannah (Kano), Tropical rain forest (Ibadan) and Guinea Savannah (Minna). Results showed that the two models from this study performed well in predicting global solar irradiance over the six different zones with slight overestimation in some cases and slight underestimation in others. However, out of the two models, model 14 had a better predictive ability. For the 12 existing models, Glover and mcCulloch model was found to be most suitable for the Mangrove swamp forest, Sahel and Montane zones while Raja and Twidell , Rietveld and Annandale et al models are respectively the most suitable models in the Sudan, Tropical rainforest and Guinea zones.