Measurement and Assessment of Solar Energy in Zarqa Governorate - Jordan

Abstract

The purpose of the present work is to measure and assess the potential of solar energy in Zarqa governorate, Jordan. The solar radiation data along a whole one year obtained from Pyranometer which measures the global radiation over horizontal surfaces. Solar data in several different forms, over period of 5 minutes, hour-by-hour, daily and monthly data radiation have been presented. The highest irradiance of 1182 W/ m2 was recorded on April 9, while the highest of an average irradiance of 632 was recorded on May 28. In June, the maximum hourly radiation of 3.87 MJ/m2 was recorded in the fourth day at 12:00 PM. The highest daily total radiation of 31.14 MJ/m2 occurred on June 15, but January 18 has the lowest daily radiation of 1.52 MJ/m2. Briefly, the yearly global solar radiation in Zarqa governorate is 7291 MJ/m2 (2025.3 kwh/m2) for the whole year with an average annual solar radiation per day of 20 MJ/m2 (5.56 kwh/m2). The total winter and summer solar energy are 1573 MJ/m2 (437 kwh/m2) 5718 MJ/m2 (1588.3 kwh/m2), respectively. More specifically, the average annual solar radiation per day is 24 MJ/m2 (6.67 kwh/m2) in summer and 13 MJ/m2 (3.6 kwh/m2) in winter for the horizontal surface. Resource assessment data is critical to the markets and the consumers of solar and other renewable energy technologies.