Speaker
Description
South Africa’s growing energy demand, coupled with persistent supply constraints and continued reliance on fossil fuels, has intensified the need for accurate solar resource assessment to support renewable energy deployment. In this study, empirical models were developed and evaluated to estimate the components of hourly global solar radiation on both horizontal and inclined surfaces.
Measured meteorological data from the University of Venda, Vuwani SAURAN station were analyzed, incorporating key atmospheric and climatic variables including sunshine duration, air temperature (mean and maximum), extraterrestrial radiation, soil temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, cloud cover, and evaporation. The performance of different empirical approaches was assessed, with particular emphasis on the widely used sunshine duration-based models due to their simplicity and data availability.
The results demonstrate that empirical models can reliably estimate global solar radiation, with sunshine duration emerging as a robust predictor under local climatic conditions. Furthermore, the Perez model was successfully applied to accurately project solar radiation on inclined surfaces, highlighting its suitability for photovoltaic system design. These findings provide valuable insights for solar energy system optimization and reinforce the applicability of empirical modeling approaches for solar resource assessment in data-scarce regions of South Africa.
| Apply for student award at which level: | Honours |
|---|---|
| Consent on use of personal information: Abstract Submission | Yes, I ACCEPT |