Examining Solar Energy Potential by

Comparing Weather Conditions of

Two Different Locations

Dr. Abdul Qayoom Jakhrani

Energy and Environment Engineering Department

Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology

(QUEST), Nawabshah, Pakistan

Outline

• Introduction

• Problem Statement

• Purpose of Study

• Methodology

– Study Locations

– Data Acquisition

– Parameters of Study

• Results and Discussions

• Conclusions

• References

Introduction

• Energy growth is directly linked to welfare and wealth

• The fulfillment of growing energy demand is a key challenge.

• Energy demand is due to: (Martins et al., 2008)

– development of agricultural, and

– industrial activities

• Foremost cause of global warming are greenhouse gases

– emitted from combustion of fossil fuels (Wu et al., 2007).

• One possible method to (El-Sebaii et al., 2010):

– reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and

– enhance energy security is to use RE resources.

• Solar energy is one of the suitable RE sources (Khatib et al., 2012):

– freely available

– clean, and

– abundant

• Solar radiations consists of two parts:

– extraterrestrial

– global

• Radiations available above atmosphere are extraterrestrial

radiations

– constant with 1367 W/m2.

• Radiations reaches over the surface of earth are termed as global

radiations (Torres et al., 2010).

• The amount of global radiation varies from place to place due to

different geographical and weather conditions.

• Different techniques can be applied to determine the amount of

exploitable radiations/energy.

• Top down approaches is one of the most widely adapted methods

• Calculation of energy potential reaching at the surface of earth are

influenced by:

• earth’s geometry

• revolution and rotation

• atmospheric attenuation

• The reliable data is required for:

– design

– optimization, and

– performance evaluation of solar technologies

• Data can be obtained from:

– ground measurements by pyranometers, or

– derived from satellites, or

– combination of both

Problem Statement

• The data measured by Met. stations is sometimes questionable

because of:

– calibration problems, and

– defective recording equipment

• The satellite-based data has proven to be highly useful (Journee et

al., 2012).

– however, not consider local geographical conditions of the

region

• Therefore, the acquired data requires confirmation comparing

against:

– measured, or

– other reference data series

• The purpose of this study was to:

– analyze the data of selected locations

– examine the variation and correlation of data sets,

and to

– investigate the potential of solar energy system

development with variable climatic conditions.

Purpose of Study

Methodology

• Study Locations:

– Nawabshah (26.3°N and 68.4°E), Pakistan

– Kuching (1.48º N, 110.33º E) Malaysia

• Nawabshah is located in the heart of Sindh Province, Pakistan

– hottest city

– dry and hot

– sometimes the temperature falls to 0°C in January.

• Kuching is located in the western side of Borneo Island, East

Malaysia

– tropical rainforest climate

– moderately hot but very humid at all times

– receives substantial amount of rainfall

– It is the wettest populated area in Malaysia, about 247 rainy

days/year

– temperature almost constant throughout the year, rarely falls

down up to 19°C (World Climate, 2013).

• Malaysia changed the Four-Fuel Policy based on:

– oil

– gas

– coal

– hydropower

to the Five-Fuel Policy with the addition of RE (DSMS, 2009).

• Pakistan depends on fuel imports

• however, it is gifted with:

– large deposits of lignite coal

– substantial amounts of RE including hydro, wind and solar

• Currently, FFC Energy Limited is building (Awan and Rashid,

2012):

– 49.5 MW Wind Energy Farm at Jhimpir

– 50MWs each at Gharo, Thatta District

• The climate data was acquired from NASA Surface

Meteorology and Solar Energy (NASA, 2013).

• The data is analyzed and investigated with the help of

SPSS software.

Data Acquisition

Table 1. Methods adopted for acquiring satellite derived data

Parameters and Methods Methodology

Database method NASA SSE 6

Extent Global

Data inputs GEWEX/SRB, 3 + ISCCP

Satellite, Clouds + NCAR,

Reanalysis

Period 1983–2005

Time resolution 3-h

Spatial resolution 1 arc-degree x 1 arc-degree

Global horizontal radiation Satellite model [Pinker and

Laszlo (1992)]

Diffuse fraction Diffuse Radiation Model [Erbs et

al. (1982)]

Inclined surface (diffuse model) RetScreen Model [Duffie and

Beckman (2006)]

Study Parameters

– Ambient temperature

– Relative humidity

– Rainfall

– Wind speed

– Slope

– Hour angle

Results and Discussions

Fig. 1. Ambient air temperature level at N’Shah and Kuching

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Am

bie

nt

Air

Tem

peratu

re

(0C

)

Time (Months)

N'Shah Kuching

Fig.2. Minimum air temperature level at N’Shah and Kuching

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Mim

nim

um

T

em

peratu

re

(0C

)

Time (Months)

N’Shah Kuching

Fig. 3. Maximum air temperature level at N’Shah and Kuching

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Maxim

um

T

em

peratu

re

(0C

)

Time (Months)

N’Shah Kuching

Fig. 4. Daylight hours (N) at N’Shah and Kuching

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Dayli

gh

t H

ou

rs (

hou

rs)

Time (Months)

N’Shah Kuching

Fig. 5. Relative humidity (RH) at N’Shah and Kuching

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Rela

tive

H

um

idit

y

(%)

Time (Months)

N’Shah Kuching

Fig. 6. Atmospheric pressure (Patm) at Nawabshah and Kuching

97

97.5

98

98.5

99

99.5

100

100.5

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Atm

osph

eric

P

ressu

re (k

Pa)

Axis Title

N’Shah Kuching

Fig. 7. Monthly mean rainfall at N’Shah and Kuching

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Rau

infa

ll (m

m/d

ay)

Time (Months)

N'Shah Kuching

Fig. 8. Wind speed above 10 m height at N’Shah and Kuching

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Win

d S

peed (m

/s)

Time (Months)

N'Shah Kuching

Fig. 9. Monthly mean optimal slope, β° at N’Shah and Kuching

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Opti

mu

m

Slo

pe (

Deg

ree)

Time (Months)

N’Shah Kuching

Fig.10. Sunset hour angle, ω0, at Nawabshah and Kuching

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Su

nset

Hou

r A

ng

le (

Deg

ree)

Time (Months)

N’Shah Kuching

Discussions:

• The tendency of ambient temperature at N’Shah was totally

different from Kuching.

• At N’Shah, the temperature was found too low in winter and too

high in summer where it sometimes reaches up to 50°C.

• At Kuching, the range of ambient temperatures throughout the

year was quite low.

• RH in the months of July and August at Nawabshah was found

to be high due to the monsoon season otherwise it is rather dry.

• The average difference b/w higher and lower RH:

– at N’Shah was 35%

– at Kuching, it was just 14%.

• RH at Kuching was found almost double than that of N’Shah

due to presence of large amount of vapors in the atmosphere due

to in equatorial position.

• Slope:

– N’Shah: quite high with 50°

– Kuching: only 25° due to geographical position

• Lengths of days

– N’Shah: in winter season were short and nights were long

and vice versa in summer.

– Kuching: same throughout the year with a difference of only

0.2 hours.

• In general, the average atmospheric pressure of N’Shah was

quite low with a difference of only 1.7 kPa as compared to

Kuching.

Conclusions • Nawabshah:

• Higher mean ambient and maximum temperature

• Higher variation and range in parameter values throughout

year

• less rainfall and cloud cover

• The annual optimum solar system slopes will be 21° tilted

towards true south

• Kuching:

• Higher mean minimum temperature and RH.

• Higher cloud covers and rainfall throughout the year.

• Uniform temperature, wind speed due to its equatorial

position.

• Lower solar system slopes are feasible

N’Shah is found to be more suitable location for the development

of solar energy systems as compared to Kuching due to clear sky

conditions.

References

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THANKS