Distribution and temporal variability of the solar resource at a site in south-east Norway

Abstract

Globally, solar energy is expected to play a significant role in the changing face of energy economies in the near future. However, the variability of this resource has been the main barrier for solar energy development in most locations around the world. This paper investigated the distribution and variability of solar radiation using the a 10-year (2006 to 2015) data collected at Sørås meteorological station located at latitude 59° 39′ N and longitude 10° 47′E, about 93.3 m above sea level (about 30 km from Oslo), in south-eastern part of Norway. It is found that on annual basis, the total number of days with a global solar radiation of less than 1 kWh/(m²·d) is 120 days while the total number of days with an expected global solar radiation greater than 3 kWh/(m²·d) is 156 days (42.74%) per year. The potential energy output from a horizontally placed solar collector in these 156 days is approximately 75% of the estimated annual energy output. In addition, it is found that the inter-annual coefficient of variation of the global solar radiation is 4.28%, while that of diffuse radiation is 4.96%.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

coefficient of variation / global solar radiation / diffuse ratio / albedo / PV energy systems

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Signe Kroken (Department of Mathematical Science and Technology, NMBU, Ås, Norway) for providing metrological data from the Sørås weather station.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2016 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg