On Seasonal Variation of Solar Irradiation in Kuwait

The technology for solar power generation is limited to numerous conditions that could affect the amount of energy received by the solar collector. In justifying the economic potential of solar energy at any geographical location the average data on solar irradiation is normally used. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether the use of average data is appropriate because irradiation could vary with seasons even in the desert. In the present work, the characteristics of solar radiation energy at a selected location in Kuwait were studied by measuring irradiance,using a pyranometer mounted on a shade-free area, throughout a year for comparison of extreme levels.The study revealed that the solar irradiation level was the lowest in winter and the highest in summer (three times the levels in winter), with an average monthly irradiation of170.4 kWh/m².The variation in monthly irradiation was relatively high with standard deviation of 61.3 kWh/m².Consequent to this, there would be four months during which the irradiation would be far below the average value; i.e. lower than 120 kWh/m², and thus leading to requirement for backup power by mean of other source of energy.

Keywords:

solar energy; solar collector; irradiance; seasonal variation,

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