Global solar radiation estimation

This paper presents the comparison between the observed and estimated values of global solar radiation on horizontal surfaces obtained from the linear Angstrom type of correlation of Rehman and Halawani [1] for 52 cities spread in 11 countries; viz. India, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Spain, Zimbabwe, Yemen, Sudan, Italy, Zambia, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. The comparisons are also made with the local linear models wherever available. The estimated values are compared with the measured values in terms of percent error, mean bias error (MBE), mean absolute bias error (MABE), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean percent error (MPE). This study finds that the model of Rehman and Halawani [1] is capable of giving estimates within an acceptable mean percent error of 5% and less for 33% of cities and between 5-10% for 50% of cities. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.