Estimation of Solar Radiation Distribution in Korea Using a Satellite

Since the solar energy resource is the main input for sizing any solar photovoltaic system, it is essential to utilize the solar radiation data as an application and development of solar energy system increase. It will be necessary to understand and evaluate the insolation data. The Korea Institute of Energy Research(KIER) has begun collecting horizontal global insolation data since May, 1982 at 16 different locations in Korea and for the more detailed analysis, images taken by geostationary satellite may be used to estimate solar irradiance fluxes at earth"s surface. It is based on the empirical correlation between a satellite derived cloud index and the irradiance at the ground. From the results, the measured data has been collected at 16 different stations and estimated using satellite at 23 different stations over the South Korea from 1982 to 2009. The Result of analysis shows that the annual-average daily global radiation on the horizontal surface is 3.56 kWh/ /day and estimated solar radiation fluxes show reliable results for estimating the global radiation with average deviation of -7.27 to +3.65% from the measured values.