EVALUATION OF DISTRIBUTIONAL SOLAR RADIATION

PARAMETERS OF ^A^AK USING LONG-TERM MEASURED

GLOBAL SOLAR RADIATION DATA

by

Sne`ana M. DRAGI]EVI] and Nikola M. VU^KOVI]

Original scientific paper

UDC: 502.171:662.997
BIBLID: 0354-9836, 11 (2007), 4, 125-134

Serbia is becoming more dependet on imported primary energy to meet its

increasing energy demand. The ratio of indigenous primary energy produc-
tion to primary energy consumption is decreasing. Therefore, it is of great
importance for Serbia to make use of its indigenous energy resources more
effectively, including its solar energy potential. Knowledge of global solar
radiation is essential in the prediction, study, and design of the economic vi-
ability of systems which use solar energy.
In this paper, the solar radiation data on ^a~ak (lat 43.87° N, long 20.33°
E) are analyzed based on 4 years of global solar radiation data measured
on a horizontal surface. The distributional solar radiation parameters are
derived from the available data and analyzed. The available solar radiation
data on a horizontal surface are converted to that of various tilt angles and
the yearly and monthly optimum tilt angles are determined.
Key words: renewable energy, solar radiation, optimal tilt angle

Introduction

Energy in the period after the “energy crisis”, has acquired a global significance
and this fact should be respected by every country. The multi-side linkage of energy, eco-
nomic development and living conditions of the population, limited fossil fuels, unfa-
vourable foreign payment balance, high investment costs for energy production and con-
sumption, imperfect world energy market, environmental constraints to energy
consumption, etc. require from the governments to show a greater interest in the field of
energy. The goal of all countries is to substitute the imported energy sources by domestic
ones and to preserve the energy sources by their rational use. Now it is generally accepted
that attention should be focused on renewable energy sources (RES), since they are an
opportunity for reducing the use of conventional energy resources, as well as for environ-
mental protection and increase of local energy sources use. The specific characteristics of
the RES (availability in unlimited quantities, periodical occurrence, changeability, diffi-
culties in appropriate storage, etc.) require their definition and appropriate evaluation.

DOI:10.2298/TSCI0704125D 125
 THERMAL SCIENCE: Vol. 11 (2007), No. 4, pp. 125-134

Solar energy technologies offer a clean, renewable, and domestic energy

sources, and are capital components of a sustainable energy future. The design of a solar
energy conversion system require precise knowledge regading the availability of solar ra-
diation and its components at the location of interest. Since the solar radiation reaching
the earth’s surface depends upon climatic conditions of the place, a study of solar radia-
tion under local climatic conditions is essential. Information on global solar radiation re-
ceived at any site (preferably gained over a long period) should be useful not only to the
locality where the radiation data is collected but also for the wider community [1]. A
global study of the world distribution of global solar radiation requires knowledge of the
radiation data in various countries and for the purpose of world wide marketing, the de-
signers and manufactures of solar equipment will need to know the average global solar
radiation available in different and specific regions. Obviously, measured data is the best
form of this knowledge.
The main objective of this paper is analysis of ^a~ak’s exposure to solar radiation
and determination of distributional solar radiation parameters from the available global so-
lar radiation data measured on a horizontal surface. In this study, 4 years were selected in
the available data (January 2003 – December 2006). ^a~ak is a city located 140 km south
from Belgrade in Serbia, at lat 43.87° N, long 20.33° E, with an altitude 250 m. The climate
in ^a~ak is moderate continental, with an average daily temperature of 10.47 °C. ^a~ak is
mostly exposed to west and north-west wind. The average speed of west wind is 2.3 m/s,
and of north-west wind 1.4 m/s. The average annual insolation is about 4 hours. The highest
insolation of about 12 hours a day is in June and July, while December and January are the
cloudiest months.

Figure 1. Air temperature during measured period 2003-2006

The available data reported in this paper were supplied by the Fruit Research In-
stitute Meteorological station of Cacak. The meteorological station is installed in the cen-
tre of town, away of industrial zone, near the city park. Instaled weather station Vaisala
Milos 200 provides measurements data on a 10-min. basis of wind speed and direction,
humidity, air temperature, rain detector, solar radiation, and temperature. METNET dis-
persed system was developed for automated meteorological measurements and data pro-

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Dragi}evi}, S. M., Vu~kovi}, N. M.: Evaluation of Distributional Solar Radiation ...

cessing, display, archiving, and transferring to the measurement network. The system
consists of multiple remote measurement heads deployed in the measurement area ac-
cording to the needs of the user and connected by a communication network. The perfor-
mance of the system is controlled by a master station in local network of the meteorologi-
cal office, which gives access to the data for other elements of meteorological support
system.

Extraterrestrial radiation and clearness index

The declination d is the angluar position of the sun at solar noon, with recpect to
the surface of the equator. Its value in degree is given by equation [2]:

æ 284 + n ö
d = 23.45 sinç 360 ÷ (1)
è 365 ø

where n is the day of year.

The sunset hour angle ws is the solar hour angle corresponding to the time when
the sun sets, and it is given by the following equation:

ws = –tgftgd (2)

where f is the latitude of the site.

Solar radiation outside the earth’s atmosphere is called extraterrestrial radiation.
The extraterrestrial solar radiation on a horizontal surface is a function only of a horizon-
tal surface alatitude and independent of other location parameters. Daily extraterrestrial
radiation on a horizontal surface Ho, can be computed for the day of year n [3, 4]:

24 × 3600 × GSC æ 360n ö æ pw s ö

Ho = ç 1 + 0033
. cos ÷ ç cos f cos d sin w s + sin f sin d ÷ (3)
p è 365 øè 180 ø
where GSC is the solar constant equal to 1367 [W/m2]. The monthly mean daily
extraterrestrial radiation is a useful quantity. For latitudes in the range +60 to –60 it can
be calculated with eq. (3) using n and d for the mean day of the month from tab. 1.
Before reaching the surface of the earth, radiation from the sun is attenuated by
the atmosphere and the clouds. The ratio of solar radiation at the surface of the earth to
extraterrestrial radiation is called the clearness index. Thus the monthly average clear-
ness index KT is defined as:
H
KT = (4)
Ho

The clearness index depends on the location and the time of year. They are usu-
ally between 0.3 (for very overcast climates) and 0.8 (for very sunny location).

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Table 1. Recommended average days for months and values of n

For average day of month

Month n for ith day of month
Date n d [°C]
January i 17 17 –20.9
February 31 + i 16 47 –13.0
March 59 + i 16 75 –2.4
April 90 + i 15 105 9.4
May 120 + i 15 135 18.8
June 151 + i 11 162 23.1
July 181 + i 17 198 21.2
August 212 + i 16 228 13.5
September 243 + i 15 258 2.2
October 273 + i 15 288 –9.6
November 304 + i 14 318 –18.9
December 334 + i 10 344 –23.0

The theoretically calculated extraterrestrial solar radiation data, and the monthly
clearness index values calculated for ^a~ak from both the available measured and theo-
retically calculated extraterrestrial solar radiation data are presented in tab. 2. The
monthly clearness index values varied between 0.13 and 0.58, while the yearly average
values ranged from 0.31 to 0.37 between the years 2003-2006.

Table 2. Extraterrestrial and measured monthly solar radiation values

and clearness indexes
Total solar radiaiton [MJ/m2] Clearness indexes
Month
Ho 2003 2004 2005 2006 2003 2004 2005 2006
January 12.52 2.10 2.30 2.84 3.21 0.17 0.18 0.23 0.26
February 18.09 2.30 2.84 3.21 3.93 0.13 0.16 0.18 0.22
March 25.64 5.34 4.82 3.93 8.86 0.21 0.19 0.15 0.35
April 34.01 8.39 8.80 8.86 10.24 0.25 0.26 0.26 0.30
May 40.38 11.20 10.38 10.24 15.10 0.28 0.26 0.25 0.37
June 43.14 13.19 13.62 15.10 15.41 0.31 0.32 0.35 0.36
July 41.71 15.40 16.02 15.41 15.60 0.37 0.38 0.37 0.37
August 36.34 15.45 14.90 17.61 12.15 0.43 0.41 0.48 0.33
September 28.37 14.66 11.06 14.24 9.59 0.52 0.39 0.50 0.34
October 19.96 10.46 8.90 11.48 6.08 0.52 0.45 0.58 0.30
November 13.58 6.31 5.95 8.18 4.90 0.46 0.44 0.60 0.36
December 10.94 3.69 3.06 4.88 2.87 0.34 0.28 0.45 0.26
Average 27.06 9.04 8.55 9.66 9.00 0.33 0.31 0.37 0.32
Total 324.68 108.49 102.65 115.97 107.95

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The optimal tilt angle of a collector

Solar energy systems are usually installed at an angle from the horizontal sur-
face to increase the solar energy angle of incidence on the surface of the collectors. The
aim of the present study is to determine the monthly optimal tilt angle for Cacak, based on
measured radiation data, and to compare it to theoretically obtained optimal tilt angles.
The solar radiation on a horizontal surface is converted to different tilt angles so that the
optima tilt angle can be determined. As the available hourly data for Cacak were mea-
sured on a horizontal surface as global radiation, it first needs to be split into its beam and
diffuse component. The beam and diffuse component are not only essential for calculat-
ing the total solar radiation on tilted surfaces, but also the ratio of diffuse to total radiation
has an important effect on the performance of solar energy systems.
Adopting the isotropic diffuse model, the solar radiation on a tilted surface can
be calculated on an hourly basis based on the following well-known equations [5]:

æ 1 + cos b ö æ 1 - cos b ö
HT = H b R b + H d ç ÷ + Hr g ç ÷ (5)
è 2 ø è 2 ø
The first term on the right-hand side of eq. (5) represents solar radiation coming
directly from the sun, the second term represents the contribution of monthly average dif-
fuse radiation, and the last term represents reflection of radiation on the ground in front of
the collector.
The ratio of global radiation on a tilted surface to that on a horizontal surface is
denoted by R:
HT H b H æ 1 + cos b ö æ 1 - cos b ö
R= + Rb + d ç ÷ + rg ç ÷ (6)
H H H è 2 ø è 2 ø
where H is hourly total radiation on a horizontal surface, Hb is the hourly beam radiation,
HT is hourly total radiation on a tilted surface, Hd is the hourly diffuse radiation, b is the
angle of tilt, and rg is the ground reflectance factor. The geometric factor Rb is the ratio of
beam radiation on the tilted surface to that on a horizontal surface at any given time. For
surface facing directly towards the equator in the northern hemisphere, Rb is given by the
following equation:
cos ( f - b)cos d cos w + sin ( f - b)sin d
Rb = (7)
cos f cos d cos w + sin f sin d

The ratio of tilted to horizontal solar radiation on a monthly basis for 4 years of
Cacak data is shown in fig. 2. The tilt angle, in this case, is equal to the latitude of Cacak.
The monthly ratio of tilted to horizontal radiation shows little variation from April to Au-
gust. In the remaining months, the ratio varies relatively from year to year. In May, June,
and July the ratio is below the unity, meaning that a horizontal surface receives more so-
lar radiation than a surface tilted 43.87°. From August to December, the surface tilted
43.87° receives more solar radiation than the horizontal surface.

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Figure 2. The
ratio of tilted to
horizontal solar
radiation on a
monthly basis for
various years (the
angle of the tilted
surface is equal to
the latitude of
^a~ak)

Detailed analysis was carried out based on the ^a~ak data of the calendar years
2003-2006 to study the effect of tilt angle on the total solar radiation incident on a sur-
face. The yearly average daily solar radiation at different tilt angles is presented in fig. 3.
If the solar radiation curves seen in fig. 3 is represented by a function of f (x), the x satisfy-
ing the ¶f (x)/¶x = 0 is the optimal tilt angle.

Figure 3. Yearly
average daily solar
radiation at different
tilt angles

The monthly average daily solar radiation at different tilt angles for the year
2006 is shown in fig. 4.
When the monthly curves are represented by function and solved as described,
the monthly optimal tilt angles can be determined. The optimal tilt angles determined in
this way can be seen in fig. 5. The monthly optimal tilt angle can be determined theoreti-
cally for the beam radiation for a surface rotated about a horizontal east-west axis with a
single daily adjustment, so that the beam radiation is normal to the surface at noon each
day [5, 6]:
cos q + sin2d + cos2dcos w (8)

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Dragi}evi}, S. M., Vu~kovi}, N. M.: Evaluation of Distributional Solar Radiation ...

Figure 4. Monthly
average daily solar
radiation at different
tilt angles

The slope of this surface will be fixed for each day and will be:

b = ½f – d½ (9)

The monthly optimal tilt angles found theoretically, for the mid-day of each
month vs. those derived from the measured data, using the method presented, are given
in fig. 5. As can be seen from the fig. 5 theoretically calculated optimal tilt angles and
those found from the measured data show a consistent relationship. The optimal tilt an-
gles calculated from the measured data are lower those than found theoretically for
April-September, whereas they are nearly equal for January-Mart and October-Decem-
ber.
In the northern hemisphere, the optimum orientation for solar collectors is south
facing. As expected, different months of a year have different optimal tilt angles. As can be
seen from fig. 5, the values of the monthly optimum tilt angle for month of March and be-

Figure 5. Monthly
optimal tilt angles
found theoretically
for the beam
radiation and those
derived from
measured total
radiation

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tween September and October are approximately equal to the latitude (*f = 43.87°*). For
these months, a solar collector tilted at an angle equal to the latitude will receive solar radia-
tion nearly normally. It is also noted from fig. 5 that bopt increases towards the beginning
and end of the year. This indicates the times when greatest improvement is made on the
amount of solar radiation incident on a solar collector tilted at an optimum angle. Further,
the energy loss will occur if we take bopt = f throughout the year (for fixed collectors).
Therefore the obtained values for bopt from fig. 5 should be taken into account for receiving
a maximum amount of solar energy. The yearly optimal tilt angle derived from measured
data for ^a~ak is 37.10°, for winter months 58.96°, and for summer months 15.25°. Various
investigators have carried out a number of studies in order to optimize the tilt angle around
the world. For example, the yearly optimal tilt angle for Izmir, Turkey (*f = 38.46°*) is
36.6° [2] or for Beijing (*f = 39.8°*) is 39.2°, for winter months 58.5°, and for summer
months 15.6° [5]. If seasonal adjustments can be made, some authors give advice that the
optimal tilt angle for summer is bopt = f + 15°, and for winter bopt = f – 15°.

Other distributional parameters

The measured duration of sunshine hours on a monthly and yearly average daily
basis for the available data from ^a~ak is presented in tab. 3. The yearly average daily
sunshine durations vary between 3.69 and 4.44 hours. Overall, the monthly average daily
measured sunshine duration is longest in July. The winter months have a relatively low
duration of sunshine. However, it is noted that the monthly average daily sunshine dura-
tion varies from year to year. For example, see November of 2004 and 2005, and August
of 2003 and 2005.

Table 3. Duration of sunshine on a monthly basis

Sunshine duration [h]
Months Monthly average
2003 2004 2005 2006
January 0.60 0.76 0.90 1.22 0.87
February – 2.38 2.43 1.45 2.09
March – 3.99 4.42 3.76 4.06
April – 4.87 4.74 3.96 4.52
May 7.02 5.69 5.97 6.78 6.37
June 8.20 6.90 7.18 6.46 7.19
July 7.74 7.00 6.65 7.46 7.34
August 8.39 7.34 4.69 5.67 6.52
September 4.34 4.19 4.15 5.39 4.52
October 2.38 2.52 2.29 3.74 2.73
November 0.82 3.68 0.66 1.50 1.67
December 0.49 0.41 0.14 0.40 0.36
Yearly average 4.44 4.14 3.69 4.02

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Dragi}evi}, S. M., Vu~kovi}, N. M.: Evaluation of Distributional Solar Radiation ...

The ratio of diffuse to total radiation on a monthly and yearly average basis is
summarized in tab. 4. Overall, the yearly average ratios vary between 0.6 and 0.66. The
ratio on a monthly basis shows the following trend: decrease May-July, and increase No-
vember-February. In some months as low as 0.30, as observed in November 2005, and
the highest ratio of diffuse to total radiation is seen in February 2003.

Table 4. Ratio of diffuse to total solar radiation

Diffuse / total radiation
Months
2003 2004 2005 2006
January 0.90 0.86 0.77 0.72
February 1.00 0.93 0.88 0.79
March 0.81 0.85 0.92 0.60
April 0.75 0.73 0.72 0.66
May 0.70 0.73 0.74 0.56
June 0.66 0.64 0.59 0.59
July 0.57 0.55 0.57 0.56
August 0.51 0.52 0.44 0.62
September 0.41 0.55 0.43 0.61
October 0.41 0.48 0.36 0.66
November 0.43 0.46 0.30 0.55
December 0.58 0.68 0.45 0.71
Average 0.64 0.66 0.60 0.64

Conclusions

The analysis of the energy situation in Serbia indicates that the ratio of indige-
nous primary energy production to primary energy consumption has been decreasing
steadily during recent years. This declination is expected to continue. The use of renew-
able energy, in general, and solar energy in particular, has been negligible when com-
pared to their economically exploitable potential. The solar radiation potential of ^a~ak
was studied in the present paper based on 4 years of hourly global solar radiation data.
This will contribute to the exploration of the potential of solar energy in Serbia. The most
important findings arising from this study are:
– the yearly total solar radiation for ^a~ak varied 102.65-115.97 MJ/m2 for the years
analyzed,
– the yearly optimal tilt angle was 37.10° for the calendar year 2006; for winter months
the optimal tilt angle was 58.96°, and for summer months 15.25°; the monthly optimal
tilt angles were further calculated from the measured data, the smallest optimal tilt
angle was 2° in June, and the largest was in December 69.52°, and
– the yearly average ratio of diffuse to total radiation varied 0.6-0.66, while the
sunshine duration varied 3.69-4.44 hours.

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Nomenclature n – number of the day of the year

– starting from the first of January, [–]
GSC – solar constant, [= 1367 Wm–2] Rb – geometric factor, [–]
H – hourly total radiation on a horizontal
– surface, [MJm–2] Greek letters
Hb – hourly beam radiation, [MJm–2]
Hd – hourly diffuse radiation, [MJm–2] b – optimum tilt angle, [deg]
HT – hourly total radiation on a tilted d – solar declination, [deg]
– surface, [MJm–2] q – angle of incidence, [deg]
Ho – daily extraterrestrial solar radiation rg – ground reflectance factor [–]
– on a horizontal surface, [MJm–2] f – latitude of site, [deg]
KT – monthly average clearness index, [–] ws – hour angle for sunset, [deg]

References

[1] Akpabio, L. E., Etuk, S. E., Relationship between Global Solar Radiation and Sunshine Dura-
tion for Onne, Nigeria, Turk Journal of Physics, 27 (2003), 2, pp. 161-167
[2] Gunerhan, H., Hepbasli, A., Determination of the Optimum Tilt Angle of Solar Collector for
Building Application, Building and Environment, 42 (2007), 2, pp. 779-783
[3] ***, RETScreen International, Clean Energy Decision Support Centre, Solar Water Heating
Project Analysis, http://www.retscreen.net/
[4] Ali, M., Global, Direct and Diffuse Solar-Radiation in Syria, Applied Energy, 79 (2004), 2,
pp. 191-200
[5] Duffie, J. A., Beckman, W. A., Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes, 2nd ed., John Wiley
and Sons, New York, USA, 1991
[6] Tang, R., Wu, T., Optimal Tilt-Angles for Solar Collectors Used in China, Applied Energy,
79 (2004), 3, pp. 239-248

Author's address:

S. M. Dragi}evi}
Technical faculty ^a~ak, University of Kragujevac
65, Svetog Save St., 32000 ^a~ak, Serbia
N. Vu~kovi}
Inter Gradex Trade (IGT)
17, Bulevar Oslobodjenja, 32000 ^a~ak, Serbia

Corresponding author S. Dragi}evi}

E-mail: snezad@tfc.kg.ac.yu

Paper submitted:October 1, 2007

Paper revised: October 10, 2007
Paper accepted: October 30, 2007

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