The diffuse solar irradiance of slopes under cloudless skies

Abstract

The diffuse irradiance of slopes relative to the diffuse irradiance of a horizontal surface is calculated by integrating the mean radiance distributions of cloudless skies in Britain for a wide range of solar elevations, azimuths and slope angles. There is reasonable agreement with measurements reported from a number of stations; discrepancies are probably due to errors in measurements and to the influence of aerosol on the radiance distributions. A simple model of the diffuse irradiance of slopes, which takes account of circumsolar radiation, is proposed, and agrees well with integrated values of irradiance