Book Description
The performance of two statistical models that use satellite data to calculate the global solar radiation incident upon the earth's surface are assessed. The estimates are determined for a mid latitude ten station network and represent a variety of sky cover conditions. Evaluations of the models for different sky conditions reveal the need for revised regression coefficients for the Hay and Hanson (1978) model and the Tarpley (1979) model. The Hay and Hanson (1978) model was shown to perform better for partly cloudy and overcast sky conditions while the Tarpley (1979) model performed better under clear skies. On a hourly and daily time scale, the Hay and Hanson (1978) model proved to be the better performer.
