The aim of this study is the determination of a suitable solar radiation model for the twelve cities of Chad based on meteorological data. Three appropriate models are used to estimate the solar radiation of each site. The choice of these models is based on statistical tests such as the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), the Mean Bias Error (MBE), the Mean Percentage Error (MPE), and the Nash-Sutcliffe Equation (NSE). The obtained results show that the Angstrom-Prescott model is the most suitable for the calculation of global solar radiation in the sites of Bongor, Pala, Am-timan and Mongo. For the sites of Moundou, Sarh and Bokoro the Allen model is the most adapted for the calculation of global solar radiation. On the other hand the Sabbagh model is the most appropriate for the sites of Faya-Largeau, Abeche, N ’ Djamena, Ati and Moussoro. It has been revealed that Abeche is the site with the highest solar radiation value equal to 6.354 kWh/m 2 and Ati is the site where the solar radiation has the lowest value around 5.523 kWh/m 2 . Based on the obtained results, it is demonstrated that the three climatic zones of Chad have a good solar potential and consequently suitable for the exploitation of the solar energy systems.
KeywordsGlobal Solar RadiationSabbaghAllenAngstrom-PrescottMeteorological Data
El-Sebaii, A.A., Al-Hazmi, F.S., Al-Ghamdi, A.A. and Yaghmour, S.J. (2010) Global, Direct and Diffuse Solar Radiation on Horizontal and Tilted Surfaces in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Applied Energy, 87, 568-576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.06.032
Almorox, J., Hontoria C.and Benito, M. (2011) Models for Obtaining Daily Global solar Radiation with Measured Air Temperature Data in Madrid (Spain). Applied Energy, 88, 1703-1709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2010.11.003
Boukelia, T.E., Mecibah, M. and Meriche, I.E. (2014) General Models for Estimation of the Monthly Mean Daily Diffuse Solar Radiation (Case Study: Algeria). Energy Conversion and Management, 81, 211-219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2014.02.035
Iziomon, M.G. and Mayer, H. (2002) Assessment of Some Global Solar Radiation Parameterizations. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 64, 1631-1643. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6826(02)00131-1
Chen, R., Ersi, K., Yang, J., Lu, S. and Zhao, W. (2004) Validation of Five Global Radiation Models with Measured Daily Data in China. Energy Conversion and Management, 45, 1759-1769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2003.09.019
Li, H., Cao, F., Bu, X. and Zhao, L. (2015) Models for Calculating Daily Global Solar Radiation from Air Temperature in Humid Regions—A Case Study. Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy, 34, 595-599. https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.12018
Bristow, K.L. and Campbell, G.S. (1984) On the Relationship between Incoming Solar Radiation and Daily Maximum and Minimum Temperature. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 31, 159-166. https://doi.org/10.1016/0168-1923(84)90017-0
Donatelli, M. and Campbell, G.S. (1998) A Simple Model to Estimate Global Solar Radiation. In: Zima, M. and Bartosova, M.L., Eds., Proceedings of the Fifth European Society of Agronomy Congress, Nitra, 133-134.
Goodin, D.G., Hutchinson, J., Vanderlip, R.L. and Knapp, M. (1999) Estimating Solar Irradiance for Crop Modeling Using Daily Air Temperature Data. Agronomy Journal, 91, 845-851. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj1999.915845x
Benghanem, M. and Mellit, A. (2014) A Simplified Calibrated Model for Estimating Daily Global Solar Radiationin Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 115, 197-205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-013-0884-2
Allen, R. (1995) Evaluation of Procedures for Estimating Mean Monthly Solar Radiation from Air Temperature. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Annandale, J., Jovanovic, N., Benade, N. and Allen, R. (2002) Software for Missing Data Error Analysis of Penman-Monteith Reference Evapotranspiration. Irrigation Science, 21, 57-67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002710100047
Angstrom, A. (1924) Solar and Terrestrial Radiation. Report to the International Commission for Solar Research on Actinometric Investigations of Solar and Atmospheric Radiation. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 50, 121-126. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.49705021008
Prescott, J. (1940) Evaporation from a Water Surface in Relation to Solar Radiation. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 64, 114-118.
Teke, A. and Yıldırım, H.B. (2014) Estimating the Monthly Global Solar Radiation for Eastern Mediterranean Region. Energy Conversion and Management, 87, 628-635. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2014.07.052
Al-Mostafa, Z.A., Maghrabi, A.H. and Al-Shehri, S.M. (2014) Sunshine-Based Global Radiation Models: A Review and Case Study. Energy Conversion and Management, 84, 209-216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2014.04.021
Toğrul, I.T. and Onat, E. (1999) A Study for Estimating Solar Radiation in Elazig Using Geographical and Meteorological Data. Energy Conversion and Management, 40, 1577-1584. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0196-8904(99)00035-7
Skeiker, K. (2006) Correlation of Global Solar Radiation with Common Geographical and Meteorological Parameters for Da-mascus Province, Syria. Energy Conversion and Management, 47, 331-345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2005.04.012
Tadros, M.T.Y. (2000) Uses of Sunshine Duration to Estimate the Global Solar Radiation over Eight Meteorological Stations in Egypt. Renewable Energy, 21, 231-246. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-1481(00)00009-4
Soulouknga, H.M., Coulibaly, O., Doka, S.Y. and Kofane, T.C. (2017) Evaluation of Global Solar Radiation from Meteorological Data in the Sahelian Zone of Chad. Renewables: Wind, Water, and Solar, 4, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-017-0041-0
Sarkar, Md.N.I. (2016) Estimation of Solar Radiation from Cloud Cover Data of Bangladesh. Renewables: Wind, Water, and Solar, 3, 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40807-016-0031-7
Ayodele, T.R. and Ogunjuyigbe, A.S.O. (2015) Prediction of Monthly Average Global Solar Radiation Based on Statistical Distribution of Clearness Index. Energy, 90, 1733-1742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.06.137
Liu, Y.H. and Jordan, R.C. (1960) The Inter Relationship and Characteristic Distribution of Direct, Diffuse and Total Solar Radiation from Meterological Data. Solar Energy, 4, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-092X(60)90062-1
Jain, A., Mehta, R. and Mittal, S.K. (2011) Modeling Impact of Solar Radiation Onsite selection for Solar PV Power Plants in India. International Journal of Green Energy, 8, 486-498. https://doi.org/10.1080/15435075.2011.576293
Kumar, R. and Umanand, L. (2005) Estimation of Global Radiation Using Clearness index Model for Sizing Photovoltaic System. Renew Energy, 30, 2221-2233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2005.02.009
Khorasanizadeh, H. and Mohammadi, K. (2013) Prediction of Daily Global Solar Radiation by Day of the Year in Four Cities Located in the Sunny Regions of Iran. Energy Conversion and Management, 76, 385-392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2013.07.073
Karakoti, I., Das, P.K. and Singh, S.K. (2012) Predicting Monthly Mean Daily Diffuse Radiation for India. Applied Energy, 91, 412-425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.10.012
Hassan, G.E., Youssef, M.E., Zahraa, E., Mohamed, A.A. and Hanafy, A.A. (2016) New Temperature-Based Models for Pre-dicting Global Solar Radiation. Applied Energy, 179, 437-450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.07.006
Gana, N.N. and Akpootu, D.O. (2013) Angstrom Type Empirical Correlation for Estimating Global Solar Radiation in North-Eastern Nigeria. The International Journal of Engineering and Science, 2, 58-78.
Musa, B., Zangina, U. and Aminu, M. (2012) Estimation of Global Solar Radiation in Maiduguri, Nigeria Using Angstrom Model. ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 7, 1623-1627.
Gairaa, K. and Bakelli, Y. (2013) A Comparative Study of Some Regression Models to Estimate the Global Solar Radiation on a Horizontal Surface from Sunshine Duration and Meteorological Parameters for Ghardaïa Site, Algeria. Hindawi Publishing Corporation. ISRN Renewable Energy, Article ID: 754956, 11 p.
Ayangma, F., Nkeng, G.E., Bonoma, D.B. and Nganhou, J. (2008) Evaluation du potentiel en énergie solaire au cameroun: Cas du nordcameroun. African Journal of Science and Technology, 9, 32-40.
Augustine, C. and Nnabuchi, M.N. (2010) Analysis of Some Meteorological Data for Some Selected Cities in the Eastern and Southern Zone of Nigeria. African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 4, 092-099.
Khorasanizadeh, H. and Mohammadi, K. (2013) Introducing the Best Model for Predicting the Monthly Mean Global Solar Radiation over Six Major Cities of Iran. Energy, 51, 257-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2012.11.007
Allen, R.G.A. (1997) Self Calibraing Method for Estimating Solar Radiation from Air Temperature. Journal of Hydrologic Engi-neering, 2, 56-57. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0699(1997)2:2(56)
Katiyar, A.K. and Pandey, C.K. (2013) A Review of Solar Radiation Models—Part 1. Journal of Renewable Energy, 2013, Article ID: 168048. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/168048
Sabbagh, J.A., Sayigh, A.A.M. and El-Salam, E.M.A. (1977) Estimation of the Total Solar Radiation from Meteorological Data. Solar Energy, 19, 307-311. https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-092X(77)90075-5
Argungu, G.M., Bala, E.J., Momoh, M., Musa M., Dabai, K.A. and Zangina, U. (2013) Statistical Analysis of Wind Energy Resource Potentials for Power Generation in Jos, Nigeria, Based on Weibull Distribution Function. The International Journal of Engineering and Science, 2, 22-31.
Despotovic, M., Nedic, V., Despotovic, D. and Vetanovic, C.S. (2015) Review and Statistical Analysis of Different Global Solar Radiation Sunshine Models. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 52, 1869-1880.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.08.035 Li, H., Ma, W., Lian, Y. and Wang, X. (2010) Estimating Daily Global Solar Radiation by Day of Year in China. Applied Energy, 87, 3011-3017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2010.03.028
Ajayi, O.O., Ohijeagbon, O.D., Nwadialo, C.E. and Olasope, O. (2014) New Model to Estimate Daily Global Solar Radiation over Nigeria. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, 5, 28-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2013.11.001
Sőzen, A. and Arcaklioglu, E. (2005) Solar Potential in Turkey. Applied Energy, 80, 35-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2004.02.003