Solar beam radiation estimate’s correlation for Bangladesh

Abstract

An empirical correlation has been developed which correlates the monthly average daily solar beam radiation with the maximum possible number of bright sunshine hours. Airmass exponential correlation is also established. The applicability of these models in climatic conditions of Bangladesh is also studied. Measured beam radiation and the bright sunshine hour data are analyzed to find out the regression co-efficient of these correlations using computer simulation programme by Gaussian elimination technique. Applying these correlations, solar beam radiation is computed for different locations in

Bangladesh. Predicted results are compared statistically with the experimental observations considering different statistical errors. The <i>t</i>-statistics is also applied to test whether or not a model is statistically significant at a particular confidence level. On the basis of the analysis, a model has been recommended which is found to be best suited to the climatic conditions of Bangladesh.