NEW CORRELATIONS OF GLOBAL SOLAR RADIATION WITH METEOROLOGICAL PARAMETERS FOR BAHRAIN

Abstract

Measurements of global solar radiation on a horizontal surface, hours of bright sunshine, mean daily maximum temperature, mean daily relative humidity, mean daily sea level pressure (M.S.L), and mean daily vapour pressure are presented. A modified empirical correlation for estimating monthly mean daily global solar radiation on a horizontal surface is obtained by using meteorological parameters, viz hours of bright sunshine, monthly mean daily maximum temperature, relative humidity, and daily M.S.L and vapour pressure. The suggested modified equations (11) and (12) are tested for their applicability to State of Bahrain. The results show an excellent agreement between the measured values of monthly global solar radiation and the estimated values obtained from these equations. The average percentage error for the two equations is 4.3% and 4.6% respectively. The two modified models are recommended to be used for Bahrain.