Upload
gabriel-lr
View
214
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
1/12
Estimation of hourly direct normal from
measured global solar irradiance in Spain
Gabriel Lo pez*, Miguel Angel Rubio, Francisco J. Batlles
Departimento de Fsica Aplicada, Universidad de Almera, 04120, Almera, Spain
Received 18 November 1999; accepted 25 November 1999
Abstract
The availability of a good data set, registered in six Spanish locations, including several
radiometric variables, has been used to test dierent approaches for estimating hourly
direct normal irradiance by decomposition models. Models proposed by dierent authorshave been tested. Following this preliminary study, to improve the kbkt correlations,
another geometric variable has been used as a predictor of hourly beam transmittance, kb,
by means of piecewise correlations. The new beam transmittance correlations, which include
additional geometric information, reduce the root mean square deviation. In addition, they
show a better performance in terms of the determination coecient of the regression
analysis of measured vs calculated values, providing an improved capture of the real world
eects than models that are function of the clearness index only. A new model that uses
only two ranges of clearness index is proposed. The proposed model shows seasonal
dependence and thus we have developed a seasonal version of it. However, the performance
of the seasonal version has proved to be similar to the corresponding annual model. 7 2000
Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Direct normal irradiance; Global solar irradiance; Estimation; Regression models
1. Introduction
The ux of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth is the primary
source among all types of known renewable energies. To calculate the eciency of
0960-1481/00/$ - see front matter 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
P I I : S 0 9 6 0 -1 4 8 1 (9 9 )0 0 1 2 1 -4
Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186
www.elsevier.com/locate/renene
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +34-950-215295; fax: +34-950-255277.
E-mail address: [email protected] (G. Lo pez).
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
2/12
solar energy converters, particularly focussing systems, and for simulations of
long-term process operations, the direct normal component of the incident solar
radiation has to be known. Furthermore, hourly values of direct normal
irradiance allow one to derive precise information about the performance of solar
energy systems. Unfortunately, data sets of direct normal irradiance are rarely
available at the location of interest because of maintenance problems and the high
cost of the pyrheliometers, and therefore, the direct normal irradiance must be
estimated from other additional variables that are recorded there. Thus, dierentmodels that relate direct normal irradiance with commonly measurable
atmospheric and meteorological variables have been developed.
In the literature, there are basically two types of models for calculating direct
normal irradiance: (i) radiative transfer models and (ii) decomposition models.
The rst ones take into account interactions on beam solar radiation with the
terrestrial atmosphere, such as atmospheric scattering by air molecules, water and
dust, and atmospheric absorption by O3, H2O and CO2, principally [13]. The
current problem in the use of these models is the large amount of atmospheric
information needed, which is not often measured at the meteorological stations.
On the other hand, the decomposition models relate the direct normal irradiance
with other solar radiation measurements, especially the global solar irradiance on
a horizontal surface [4,5]. Thus, decomposition models require simpler input datathan the parametric models. In fact, decomposition models provide an estimate of
the direct irradiance by means of simple empirical expressions both for cloudless
and cloudy conditions. In this way, these models avoid the diculties associated
with the cloud radiative eect parameterisation.
Historically, one approach to the determination of the hourly direct normal
irradiance from measured global data has been to use a hourly diuse sky model.
Diuse irradiance has been estimated by correlations between the dimensionless
numbers k, hourly diuse fraction (hourly diuse irradiance/hourly global
irradiance), and kt, hourly clearness index (hourly global irradiance/hourly
extraterrestrial horizontal irradiance) [6,7]. Hourly direct irradiance (Id) would
now be calculated from the predicted values of hourly diuse ( D ), recorded values
of hourly global irradiance (G ), and the solar zenith angle (yz) by means of their
relationship:
Id G Da cos yz
However, dierent authors [810] have estimated the direct irradiance from only
measurements of global irradiance on a horizontal surface. In this way, regression
models on dimensionless variables such as the hourly clearness index kt, and
hourly beam transmittance kb (hourly direct irradiance/hourly extraterrestrial
irradiance) have been developed [810]. Moreover, dependencies of the hourly
direct irradiance on other variables besides kt, such as solar elevation, water
vapour content, atmospheric turbidity and climatic variables have been suggested
[1113].
In this work, we estimate the hourly direct irradiance by means of kbkt
G. Lopez et al. / Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186176
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
3/12
correlations. Firstly, following previous work developed by Vignola and
McDaniels [9], the direct transmittance is computed from only the hourly
clearness index. Next, the solar zenith angle is used as an additional predictor
variable in order to obtain a better performance of the beam transmittance and
capture the real world eects in a better way. In this sense, we have selected two
annual models and a seasonal model to compare their performances. The selected
models were formulated by Louche et al. [10], Maxwell [13] and Rerhrhaye et al.
[14], respectively. The rst one is a kbkt correlation which involves a polynomialof order ve, and the second one is termed as a `quasi-physical' model as it
combines a physical clear sky model with experimental ts for other conditions,
including the clearness index kt and air mass as inputs to the model. The third
model estimates the hourly direct irradiance from three seasonal kbktcorrelations.
Several authors have suggested the convenience of a seasonal modelling [9,14].
We have tested the seasonal performance for the proposed models using the data
set registered at Granada. Based on these tests, we have developed two models for
estimating the hourly direct irradiance at Granada: one involving seasonal
dependence and the other without. A comparison between the performances of
both models has been carried out.
2. Data set
In this work, we have used data registered in six Spanish radiometric stations,
located in areas characterised by dierent climatic conditions. Table 1 summarises
the geographical locations, the number of data and the date of the measurements
used for each station. In the case of Oviedo only the rst semester of 1991 has
been used to exclude data aected by the enhancement of stratospheric aerosols
due to the volcanic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. There are coastal locations,
Almera, and inland locations with dierent degrees of continentality. For the
dierent locations, we found rather dierent cloud regimes. The measurements
include global and diuse solar irradiance on a horizontal surface, which were
registered by means of pairs of Kipp & Zonen pyranometers, one of them ttedwith a polar axis shadowband. In Granada and Almera stations CM-11
Table 1
Geographical location, period of measure and number of data for each radiometric station
Latitude (8N) Longitude (8W) Elevation (m) Years N
Almera 368 50 ' 28 25 ' 0 19941996 8461
Granada 378 10 ' 38 34 ' 660 19941995 7442
Murcia 388 0 ' 18 10 ' 69 1987 3779
Madrid 408 29 ' 38 45 ' 664 1981 2625
Logron o 428 28 ' 28 41 ' 372 1990 856
Oviedo 438 21 ' 58 21 ' 348 1991 1984
G. Lopez et al. / Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186 177
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
4/12
pyranometers have been used, whereas the other radiometric stations used CM-5
pyranometers. For all the variables, hourly values have been obtained. Calibration
constants of the radiometric devices used at Almera and Granada have been
checked periodically by our research group. For the rest of the stations the
Instituto Nacional de Meteorologa (INM) is responsible for the corresponding
calibration checks. Analytical checks, for measurement consistency, were carried
out to remove problems associated with shadowband misalignments, and other
questionable data. Due to cosine response problems we have used only cases atsolar zenith angles less than 858. The diuse irradiance, measured by shadowband,
has been corrected using the model developed by Batlles et al. [15]. Lastly, the
hourly direct irradiance is obtained from their relationship with the hourly global
and diuse irradiance.
3. Development of new beam transmittance correlations
The whole data set has been divided into two subsets by means of a random
selection. Around two thirds of the whole data set have been used to develop the
new correlations, whereas the remaining third is reserved for validation purposes.
Fig. 1 shows kb- vs kt-values. Firstly, in a previous analysis, we have grouped thedata into kt bins 0.020 in width. For each bin, the mean of kb has been obtained.
A graphical analysis of these mean values of kb vs kt has shown a linear
dependence of kb against kt, for kt-values less than 0.220, while a quadratic
relationship dependence has been found for the following kt-values. Thus, the
following have been derived using standard regression procedures upon the two
kt-regions, which we call MODEL 1:
kb=0.014 kt kt 0.220
kb=0.0120.252 kt+1.455 k2t
ktr0.220 R2=0.88
where R 2 is the determination coecient, which accounts for the fraction of the
variance in the two variables that is shared.
From Fig. 1, it is noted that values of kb go quickly to zero as kt is less thanaround 0.200, corresponding to hazy conditions, whereas there is a wide range of
values attained by kb for a given kt at intermediate clearness indices. However,
only one hourly beam transmittance value is related with one kt-value by kbktcorrelations. It is obvious that the necessity of additional independent variables
account for this spread of kb- vs kt-values. Maxwell [13] introduced the air mass
in his model as the main parameter aecting the relationship between beam
transmittance and clearness index. Jeter and Balaras [5] used the air mass as an
additional variable to predict kb by means of an own developed surface-tting
method and showed that the air mass dependence becomes dominant at high
clearness indices. Based on these previous works, we have analysed the
dependence of solar zenith angle on hourly kbkt correlations. In order to test this
dependence, we have divided the data set into six cos yz intervals. The boundaries,
G. Lopez et al. / Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186178
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
5/12
displayed in Table 2, have been chosen in order to provide a quasi-uniform
distribution of the data into the intervals. We have used a similar technique to
that employed to develop MODEL 1 for each cos yz interval, obtaining the
following kbkt correlations, which we call MODEL 2:
cos yz 0.343 kb=0.031 kt kt 0.240
kb= 0.145+0.476 kt+0.663 k2t
ktr0.240 R2=0.82,
SE=30%
0.343 < cos yz 0.500 kb=0.015 kt kt 0.275
kb= 0.081 0.074 kt+1.394 k2t
ktr0.275 R2=0.87,
SE=21%
0.500 < cos yz 0.643 kb=0.033 kt kt 0.320
kb= 0.075 0.240 kt+1.586 k2t
ktr0.320 R2=0.90,
SE=17%
0.643 < cos yz 0.766 kb=0.051 kt kt 0.280
kb=0.090 0.856 kt+2.093 k2t
ktr0.280 R2=0.90,
SE=15%
0.766 < cos yz 0.866 kb=0.046 kt kt 0.230
kb=0.139 1.085 kt+2.292 k2t
ktr0.230 R2=0.90,
SE=13%
0.866 < cos yz kb=0.081 kt kt 0.300
kb=0.254 1.584 kt+2.726 k2t
kt 0.300 R2=0.90,
SE=12%
where SE is the standard error of the estimates for each considered interval. The
standard error has been calculated as the square root of the mean error and has
been expressed as a percentage of the mean measured kb-value for each interval of
cos yz for a better comparison. The eect of the solar zenith angle on correlationsis noted in Fig. 2. As it may be seen, the tting curves are clearly dierent for
each interval of cos yz and the spread of the data is partially explained by means
of the parameterisation on cos yzX The determination coecient varies from 0.82,
for the rst interval, to 0.90 for the intervals with values of cos yz higher than
0.500, pointing out to a signicant dependence of the kbkt correlations on solar
zenith angle. Furthermore, there is a dramatic reduction of the spread of the
estimated vs measured kb-values, from the rst to the last interval, given the basis
of the reduction of the standard error from 30 to 12%. The large standard error
for cos yz < 0.343 is reasonable because we have used both kb and ktmeasurements corresponding to dierent locations with dierent atmospheric
conditions, e.g., dierent amounts of water vapour and aerosol contents in the
atmosphere. At high solar zenith angles, the beam solar radiation is aected, on a
G. Lopez et al. / Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186 179
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
6/12
wider scale, by these dierent conditions, which cannot be reproduced using only
global solar radiation. In addition, this interval contains around 60% of the kt-
values that are less than 0.500. Partly cloudy skies are the prevailing weather
conditions in this region of kt-values and the clearness index is not suitable to
parameterise the eect of the clouds on direct irradiance. As cos yz values increase,
the percentage of kt-values over 0.500 also increase leading to cloudless skyconditions, whereas the relationship among hourly beam transmittance and hourly
clearness index is more close, and thus, the standard error decreases.
Nevertheless, the complexity of the model encourages us in the search of a more
compact form that could take into account the solar zenith angle dependence in
an analytical way. We have carried out a stepwise regression using dierent degree
order polynomials in kt and a linear dependence in cos yzX We have examined the
residual dierences of the MODEL 1 against cos yzX For this purpose, the residual
Fig. 1. Measured hourly beam transmittance vs hourly clearness index for one third of the whole used
data set.
Table 2
Boundaries used to dene the six categories for cosyz
0.343 0.500 0.643 0.766 0.866
G. Lopez et al. / Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186180
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
7/12
dierences have been averaged on intervals of 0.050 step in cos yz and plotted
against it (Fig. 3). From Fig. 3 it is noted the dependence of kbkt correlations on
cos yz and it is shown that this dependence follows a linear tendency. Thus, the
inclusion of cos yz in the stepwise regression by means of a linear dependence is
justied. The best results are obtained for the following set of expressions, which
we call MODEL 3:
kb= k
2
t (0.9280.909cos y
z) kt
0.325kb=0.0690.475 kt+1.733 k2t
0.096 cos yz ktr0.325 R2=0.90
The determination coecient obtained in the stepwise regression indicates a
better tting than that carried out by a kbkt correlation (MODEL 1). In
determining whether the model can be simplied, notice that all terms are
statistically signicant at the 99% condence level.
4. Model performance
The performance of the proposed models is compared with the original version
of previous decomposition models by Louche et al. [10], Maxwell [13] and
Rerhrhaye et al. [14]. Among the performance indicators we have chosen the
Fig. 2. kbkt diagram for MODEL 2. Solar zenith angle dependence on kbkt correlations is clearly
observed.
G. Lopez et al. / Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186 181
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
8/12
regression analysis of measured values vs calculated ones, in terms of the
intercept, a, slope, b, and determination coecient, R 2. We have also included the
root mean square deviation (RMSD) and the mean bias deviation (MBD) as
indicators of the spread of the deviation between measured and calculated values
and as a test for existence of systematic tendencies, respectively. Table 3 shows the
statistical results obtained when a performance test of the models is applied to the
remaining third of the database, reserved for validation purposes.
The correlations relying only on kt, both Louche's model and the proposed
model, MODEL 1, provides similar global results. Although the intercept and the
Fig. 3. Averaged residuals from estimate of the hourly beam transmittance by MODEL 1 as a function
of the cos yzX The error bars denote one standard deviation from the mean value of the averaged
residuals.
Table 3
Statistical results of selected and proposed models for estimating hourly direct normal irradiancea
a (W m2) b R 2 MBE (W m2) RMSE (W m2)
Louche's model 20.6 0.95 0.899 4.2 99.2
Maxwell's model 32.7 0.90 0.900 20.5 95.7
Rerhrhaye's model 32.5 0.82 0.882 127.3 165.7
Model 1 52.9 0.90 0.901 1.1 96.5
Model 2 45.2 0.90 0.915 9.6 89.9
Model 3 52.6 0.89 0.914 11.1 90.8
a
Mean value of measured direct irradiance: 532.4 W m2
; N=7007.
G. Lopez et al. / Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186182
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
9/12
slope for Louche's model is more close to the 1:1 line of perfect t, MODEL 1
shows a slight improvement in terms of both RMSD and MBD, corresponding to
0.5% reduction in both deviations over the mean value of the measured hourly
direct irradiance. On the other hand, the fth order polynomial dependence on ktgiven by Louche's model is removed and replaced for only a quadratic
dependence on kt for ktr 0.220 and a linear dependence on kt for kt 0.220.
Rerhrhaye's model, which is a kbkt correlation on summer, winter and spring/
autumn separately, shows the worst statistical results with the highest value of theRMSD and a large underestimation. Dierent atmospheric conditions from
Spanish locations can possibly lead to these results.
The inclusion of cos yz as an additional estimator leads to the improved results
of models, in terms of determination coecient and RMSD, but with a slight
degradation in terms of tuning of the model, as indicated by slope, intercept and
MBD. Obviously, the calibration of the cos yz dependence performed for two
thirds of our data set, provides the lowest RMSD together with the higher
determination coecient. In this way, the kbkt-cos yz model parameterised in six
intervals of cos yz, MODEL 2, shows the best results. The variance in kb explained
by the variation in both kt and cos yz is increased by 1.5% compared with the
models that do not incorporate cos yzX Similarly, the spread of deviation between
calculated vs measured hourly direct irradiance is reduced and the RMSD reachesa minimum value that represents a 16.9% over the mean value of the measured
Fig. 4. Estimated hourly direct normal irradiance by MODEL 3 vs measured ones using one third of
the whole data set. The solid line denotes the line 1:1 of the perfect t.
G. Lopez et al. / Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186 183
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
10/12
hourly direct irradiance. However, the inclusion of cos yz as a variable in the
stepwise regression, MODEL 3, provides a model with similar values in all terms,
except MBD, which is only 0.3% higher than that obtained by MODEL 2. Fig. 4
shows the estimated hourly direct irradiance by MODEL 3 vs measured ones.
Maxwell's model, which uses an exponential relationship between air mass and
transmittance parameterised in kt, presents worse results than MODELS 2 and 3
with both determination coecient and RMSD close to those obtained from
Louche's model and MODEL 1. Furthermore, Maxwell's model exhibits apronounced underestimation with an MBD value that is around 3.4% higher than
those obtained by Louche's model and MODEL 1 and around 2% higher than
those obtained by MODELS 2 and 3. Thus, based on these statistical results,
MODEL 3 seems to capture in a better and more compact way the behaviour of
the real processes.
5. Seasonal performance
Dierent authors have suggested the convenience of seasonal modelling [9,14].
Vignola and McDaniels [9] studied the time dependence of the average residuals
between the measured and calculated values from both daily and monthlyaveraged correlations, and found sinusoidal behaviours typical for each considered
site. Rerhrhaye et al. [14] divided the year into three periods and developed three
dierent kbkt correlations, one for each period.
We have tested the seasonal performance of MODEL 3 using the data set
registered at Granada. We have taken the data set corresponding to only one site
to avoid possible dierent seasonal behaviours depending on each location, as
Vignola and McDaniels noted. Table 4 shows the statistical results of MODEL 3
for the four seasons, evaluated with validation subset (one-third of the whole
Granada's data set). Summer, autumn and winter seasons present underestimation
of the hourly direct irradiance, whereas there is an overestimation tendency for
spring. The RMSD for winter months is 81.0 W m2, which have the best global
results, increasing to 94.7 W m2
for the autumn months. Dierent cloud regimesand dierent atmospheric compositions for each season can lead to these dierent
degrees of spread. Moreover, we note that the winter season has a percentage of
kt-values around 20% for kt < 0.500, whereas this percentage for autumn season
Table 4
Statistical results of MODEL 3 for each season using Granada's database
a (W m2) b R 2 MBE (W m2) RMSE (W m2)
Spring 73.4 0.88 0.935 6.42 83.3
Summer 85.0 0.82 0.918 21.3 84.2
Autumn 53.1 0.83 0.929 26.5 94.7
Winter 52.0 0.89 0.948 11.5 81.0
G. Lopez et al. / Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186184
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
11/12
rises to 40%. As was noted in section two, the increase of kt-values falling below
0.500 leads to worse estimations of hourly direct irradiance. An equivalent study
performed upon MODEL 1 conrms these results.
Thus, this analysis suggests the convenience of trying seasonal modelling. First,
we have developed an annual model for Granada, which we call MODEL 4,
similar to MODEL 3 in order to carry out a comparison with the seasonal
version. MODEL 4, which has been evaluated for each season, presents similar
performance to that of MODEL 3, though with better statistical results as is
expected since overall data corresponds to the same location. Thus, for example,
MODEL 4 shows the highest RMSD value for autumn and the lowest RMSD
value for winter. Next, we have developed the seasonal version of the precedingmodel. For this purpose, we have divided two thirds of the Granada's data set
into four subsets corresponding to each season. Expressions equivalent to
MODEL 4, which we call the SEASONAL MODEL, have been obtained for each
seasonal subset. The set of correlation equations for both models is not shown
because we are only interested in their performance. Lastly, both models have
been tested with the remaining third of Granada's data set. Table 5 includes the
results of the statistical analysis for MODEL 4 and the SEASONAL MODEL.
Both models present similar values for all statistical parameters with a slight
improvement for the SEASONAL MODEL as indicated by slope, intercept and
RMSE. However, the RMSE reduction represents only a 0.5% over the mean
value of the measured hourly direct irradiance. Anyway, we conclude that a
seasonal modelling does not improve substantially the estimation of hourly directirradiance against annual modelling.
6. Conclusions
This work has shown the eciency of the solar zenith angle as estimator of the
hourly direct normal irradiance. We have developed two decomposition models
based on kbkt correlations that incorporate a solar zenith angle dependence.
Their performances have been carried out using data sets registered in six Spanish
locations, covering a variety of climatic and latitudinal conditions. The
performances have been compared against three kbkt correlation based models,
one of them also developed from our data set, that do not have any dependence
Table 5
Statistical results of annual model, MODEL 4, and its corresponding seasonal version, SEASONAL
MODEL, for Granada's databasea
a (W m2) b R 2 MBE (W m2) RMSE (W m2)
Model 4 57.3 0.90 0.923 3.6 83.5
Seasonal model 51.2 0.91 0.929 2.5 80.8
a Mean value of measured direct irradiance: 550.2 W m2; N= 2356.
G. Lopez et al. / Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186 185
7/28/2019 2000 Lopez (Ren Energy_21)
12/12
on solar zenith angle and a fourth model with an air mass dependence. Inclusion
of cos yz as an additional independent variable in kbkt correlations accounts for
some of the variance of the data and improves the performances of kbktcorrelation based models. In this way, an analytical equation between kb and ktand cos yz using two kt-intervals has been provided as the better option to
estimate the hourly direct normal irradiance. This has been observed in terms of
the root mean square deviation and determination coecient of the regression
analysis of measured vs calculated values. The statistical results of the proposedmodels suggest that the existence of a wide range of kb-values for a given kt could
be partially due to variations in the solar zenith angle.
We have also analysed the seasonal performance of the proposed models using
Granada's database. This analysis has shown a signicant seasonal dependence.
However, the seasonal version of an annual model for Granada performs similarly
to that annual model. Thus, we consider that the seasonal versions are not able to
improve the estimation of the hourly direct normal irradiance.
References
[1] Threlkeld JL, Jordan RC. Direct solar radiation available on clear days. Transactions American
Society of Heating and Air-Conditioning Engineers 1958;1622:4568.
[2] Davis JA, McKay DC. Estimating solar irradiation components. Solar Energy 1982;29.
[3] Gueymard C. Critical analysis and performance assessment of clear sky solar irradiance models
using theoretical and measured data. Solar Energy 1993;51:12138.
[4] Liu BYH, Jordan RC. The interrelationship and characteristic distribution of direct, diuse, and
total solar radiation. Solar Energy 1960;4:19.
[5] Jeter SM, Balaras CA. Development of improved solar radiation models for predicting beam
transmittance. Solar Energy 1990;44:14956.
[6] Orgill JF, Hollands KGT. Correlation equation for hourly diuse radiation on a horizontal
surface. Solar Energy 1977;19:3579.
[7] Erbs DG, Klein SA, Due JA. Estimation of the diuse radiation fraction for hourly, daily and
monthly-average global radiation. Solar Energy 1982;28:293302.
[8] Turner WD, Mujahid AM. Determination of direct normal solar radiation from measured global
values-Comparison of models. J of Solar Energy Engineering 1985;107:3944.
[9] Vignola F, McDaniels DK. Beam-global correlations in the pacic northwest. Solar Energy1986;36:40918.
[10] Louche A, Notton G, Poggy P, Simonnot G. Correlations for direct normal and global horizontal
irradiation on a French mediterranean site. Solar Energy 1991;46:2616.
[11] Perez R, Seals R, Zelenka A, Ineichen P. Climatic evaluation of models that predict hourly direct
irradiance from hourly global irradiance: prospects for performance improvements. Solar Energy
1990;44:99108.
[12] Hottel HC. A simple model for estimating the transmittance of direct solar radiation through clear
atmospheres. Solar Energy 1976;18:12934.
[13] Maxwell AL. A quasi-physical model for converting hourly global horizontal to direct normal
insolation. Report SERI/TR-215-3087, Solar Energy Research Institute, Golden, CO, 1987.
[14] Rerhrhaye A, Zehaf M, Flechon J. Estimation of the direct beam from seasonal correlations.
Renewable Energy 1995;6:77985.
[15] Batlles FJ, Alados-Arboledas L, Olmo FJ. On shadowband correction methods for diuse
irradiance measurements. Solar Energy 1995;54:10514.
G. Lopez et al. / Renewable Energy 21 (2000) 175186186