Abstract: Solar radiation data is an essential pre-requisite for the designing, sizing and performing evaluation of any solar energy conversion system in any part of the globe, even though solar radiation data are not readily available for many location of many developing countries such as Nigeria, hence the needs to rely on empirical models. There are many developed models across the globe for the estimation of solar radiation, to identify the optimum performing model for locations such as Katsina requires the comparism between the various models. In this study, performance evaluation of six selected models for the estimation of global solar radiation was carried out for Katsina location, Nigeria. The models were formed from different combinations of some meteorological parameters (sunshine hours, relative humidity and temperatures) obtained for a period of ten years (2006-2015) from Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET). Monthly average extraterrestrial global solar radiation was evaluated for the locations. The data was analysed to find the empirical constants for all the selected models in the locations. Estimated values of global solar radiation was obtained from the six selected models. The estimated values were then compared using statistical parameters (mean bias error (MBE), mean percentage error (MPE), root mean square error (RMSE) and coefficient of determinant (R2). Model 6 was found to be the optimum model for Katsina because it fitted the measured data most for each month of year based on various statistical parameters used for the analysis.Abstract: Solar radiation data is an essential pre-requisite for the designing, sizing and performing evaluation of any solar energy conversion system in any part of the globe, even though solar radiation data are not readily available for many location of many developing countries such as Nigeria, hence the needs to rely on empirical models. There are many ...Show More
