DNI, GHI and DHI Ground Measurements in Doha, Qatar

This paper presents an analysis of solar radiation measurements taken in Doha, Qatar (25.33°N, 51.43°E). Direct Normal, Global and Diffuse Horizontal solar irradiances are measured with a high precision solar monitoring station and analyzed for the period of 6 months from December 2012 to May 2013. Daily and monthly averages of solar irradiance values along with minute and daily peaks are obtained from the one-minute average recorded values. The monthly averages are also compared with their corresponding values from two other data sets, for Doha, covering longer periods: the NASA SSE database (satellite-derived) and records of GHI from the Qatar Meteorological Department (ground measurements). During this 6-month period, the averages of DNI, GHI and DHI are 200.4, 225.2 and 94.7W/m², respectively, with the highest monthly averages found in February (DNI=234.9W/m²), May (GHI=302W/m²) and April (DHI=129.9W/m²). The days with the highest averages of DNI, GHI and DHI were all found in May, with 407.5, 355.2 and 193.8W/m², respectively.

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Published in: Energy Procedia
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.03.254