Prediction of Global, Diffused and Direct Solar Radiation for Oriented and Inclined Surface Based on Meteorological Data for efficient energy use in the south of Tunisia

The determination of solar radiation data at a given geographic location is very important for the development of solar applications and for the evaluation of their performances. The current paper provides the determinations for horizontal, inclined and oriented surface the global, diffuses and direct solar radiation by making the comparison between “MATLAB” simulation model and the climatology measured data for ten years provided by a high precision meteorological station installed in Tataouine (32°93′latitude, 10°45′ longitude) in the south of Tunisia where the available solar resources are very important. The global and direct solar radiation variability was assessed on hourly, monthly and seasonally scales. The statistical test methods were used in order to indicate the performance of the model. It shows a good potential for the use in estimating values of solar radiation components on different surface`s kinds in the nearby locations where measurements of the sunshine data are not available. Such accurate knowledge is very useful for the site selection of solar power plants for both photovoltaic and concentrated thermal systems

The enerMENA Meteorological Network – Solar Radiation Measurements in the MENA Region

International audienceFor solar resource assessment of solar power plants and adjustment of satellite data, high accuracy measurement data of irradiance and ancillary meteorological data is needed. For the MENA region (Middle East and Northern Africa), which is of high importance for concentrating solar power applications, so far merely 2 publicly available ground measurement stations existed (BSRN network). This gap has been filled by ten stations in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan. In this publication the data quality is analyzed by evaluating data completeness and the cleanliness of irradiance sensors in comparison for all of the stations. The pyrheliometers have an average cleanliness of 99.2 % for week-daily cleaning. This is a 5 times higher effort than for Rotating Shadowband Irradiometer (RSI) stations which even have a slightly higher average cleanliness of 99.3 % for weekly cleaning. Furthermore, RSI stations show a data completeness of 99.4 % compared to 93.6 % at the stations equipped with thermal sensors. The results of this analysis are used to derive conclusions concerning instrument choice and are hence also applicable to other solar radiation measurements outside the enerMENA network. It turns out that RSIs are the more reliable and robust choice in cases of high soiling, rare station visits for cleaning and maintenance, as usual in desert sites. Furthermore, annual direct normal and global horizontal irradiation as well as average meteorological parameters are calculated for all of the stations

Hybrid CSP—PV Plants for Jordan, Tunisia and Algeria

Hybrid concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) plants are gaining relevance because they combine their advantages: easy installation and low cost of PV plus dispatchability of CSP. This paper presents results of a techno-economic modelling of this hybrid approach for sites in Jordan, Tunisia and Algeria. Local boundary conditions such as meteorology, cost and electricity demand have been considered to determine the best configurations for these three sites. Different CSP technologies with thermal energy storage have been selected. Hybridization with natural gas has also been included. The optimization is done towards minimizing the LCOE while covering the electrical demand 24/7. Results are presented for different CO2 emissions ranges, as the use of fossil fuel has a strong impact on the LCOE and for environmental reasons, it may be preferred to be kept to a minimum. For most of the cases analyzed, the fraction of energy from PV that leads to minimum LCOE is lower than the energy from CSP. It is shown that for countries with a high fuel price, the use of natural gas reduces the LCOE until a share from this source of about 20%. A higher integration of fossil fuel for sites rich in solar irradiation is considered not advantageous if the price of natural gas is above EUR 40/MWh