Solar Radiation Calculation

- Approach

1
 Solar Constant

Solar Constant is the intensity of the solar radiation hitting one

square meter of the Earth

Or it is the intensity of radiation from the spherical black body,

whose temperature is 5785oK and diameter is 696·106 m, per
square meter on a spherical surface whose radius is 150.109m
and with the Sun placed at its centre.
 The Solar Constant

.T4  4 .R   1367 W /
2 2
Gsc  
.  4 .  m
D
Where
= 5.67⋅10-8 W/m2.K4 is the Stefan-
Boltzmann constant.
R= 696·106 m is the Sun radiuses
D=150 ·109 m is the average distance
between the Sun and the earth

What is the average intensity per square meter of the Earth’s surface?
 1- Latitude φ

latitude is used to state how far north or south you are,

relative to the equator.
•If you are on the equator your

latitude is zero.
•If you are near the north pole

or the south pole your

Latitud
e
latitude is nearly 90 degrees.

Longitu
de
 1- Latitude φ

Latitude is the angle measured at the centre of the Earth,

between the Equator plane and where you are. It is expressed
either north or south, and varies from 0° to 90°.
 2- Longitude ‘L’

Longitude shows your location in an east or west direction,

relative to the Greenwich meridian.
•Places to the east of Greenwich have longitude angles up to
180 degrees east.
•Places to the west of Greenwich

have negative angles up to

Latitud
e
180 deg west.

Longitu
de
 2- Longitude ‘L’

Longitude is the angle at centre of the Earth, between where

you are and Greenwich. It can be measured either east or west
and varies from 0° to 180°.
 3- Declination δ

Declination is the angle made between the plane of the equator

and the line joining the two centres of the earth and the sun:

 284  n 
δ  23.45  
 365 
sin 360
 3- Declination δ

The Declination varies between -23.4523.45

and is positive during summer and negative during winter

On the same day the declination is equal everywhere on the Earth

What is the declination angle today?

 4- Hour Angle ω

The hour angle is the sun’s angular deviation from south

ω  15∘  Solar Time 

12

-180180, negative before Solar Noon

 4- Hour Angle ω

Two corrections must be applied

If the longitude is different
from the current time
zone meridian of the
location.

because the earth's orbit and

E  229.2  (0.000075  0.001868cosB rate of rotation are subject
- 0.032077sinB - 0.014615 cos2B - 0.04089 sin to small fluctuations.
2B)

B = (n-1)360/365

What is the hour angle in Luleå at 3

PM?
 5- Sun altitude hs

Angle between horizontal plane

and line joins the site with the
centers of the sun (sun
elevation).

hs  Arc sincos().cos( ).cos() 

sin().sin( )

What is the Sun altitude in Luleå at 10 AM?

 6- Solar azimuth γ

Angle between the projection of the straight line joins

the site with the centers of the sun on the
horizontal plane and due south.

 cos( ).sin() 
  Arc sin  cos(hs)
 

What is the Solar azimuth in Luleå at 3 PM?

7- Incident Beam Radiation θ
 8- Incidence Angle on Sloped Plane

The angle of tilted surface ‘’ isangle between the surface and
the horizontal.
Incidence angle on a surface of tilt β and azimuth γ on the
latitude φ at a time when the declination is δ and the
hour angle is ω, is:

cos θ  sin δ  sin φ  cosβ  sin δ  cos φ  sin β  cos γ  cos δ  cos φ 
cosβ  cos ω
 cos δ  sin φ  sinβ  cos γ  cos ω  cos δ  sinβ  sin γ  sin ω

What is the incidence angle on a sloped surface in Luleå  = 45?

 9- Zenith Angle z

Zenith Angle, z is incidence angle of 

z
sunbeam on a horizontal surface
It is found by inserting β=0 in incidence
angle equation


cosθ z  cosφ  cosδ  cosω  sinφ 
z
sinδ
0  z  90
What is the relationship between zenith angle and Sun altitude?
 Incidence Angle on Sloped
Plane

The incidence angle on surfaces with slope β due north or

south at latitude φ is equivalent to the Zenith Angle at an
artificial latitude (φ -β) for the northern hemisphere, or (φ
+β) for the southern hemisphere.

cosθ  cos(φ -  )  cosδ  cosω  sin(φ -  ) 

sinδ
cosθ  cos(φ   )  cosδ  cosω  sin(φ   ) 
sinδ
 Sunset, Sunrise & Day Length

• The sunset hour angle is the hour angle when

z=90
cosθz  cosφ  cosδ  cosω  sinφ 
sinδ

coss   tan  tan Earth

θz=900

• Since the hour angle increases 15/hour,

s can be used to define the day length
through the relation

2
N  Arcos   tan   tan  Sun
15

How long does the sun shine in Luleå
today?
 Sunset Hour Angle of Sloped
Surface

• The sunset hour angle for a plane tilted towards

the south is defined as the hour angle when  =
90:

cosθ  cos(φ -  )  cosδ  cosω  sin(φ -  ) 

sinδ

cosst   tan   
tan
 Slope surface

effect of slope angle on the incident angle & day long

50 17

45
40 16

Number of hour sunshine

35
incidend angle

30 15

25
20 14

15
10 13
5
0 12
0 10 20 30 40 50

slope angle

Increasing β is decreases θ this is positive effect

simultaneously it decreases day long which it is negative effect.
 Solar Radiation

 Extraterrestrial Solar Radiation

 Atmosphere influence on Solar Radiation

 Solar Radiation on ground surface (horizontal plane), clear day

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 Solar Radiation

• Radiation is a composition of many wavelengths

• Waves of different length carry different amount of energy
• 98% of SR is carried by wave of length 0.3    3 m

UV Visibl
IR
e

27
 Solar Spectrum

Ultraviolet: Visible light: Infrared:

0.2 m <  < 0.38 m 0.38 m <  < 0.78 m  > 0.78 m

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 Solar Spectrum

Constitution
 About 6.5% of the total energy is contained in the
ultraviolet region (λ < 0.38 μm);
 another 47.9% is contained in the visible region
(0.38 μm
< λ < 0.78 μm); and
 45.6% is contained in the infrared region (λ >
0.78 μm).

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 Solar Constant

Solar Constant, Gsc: is radiation received per square meter of the

atmosphere at incidence angle  = 0 when the earth is at the
mean distance from the sun

Solar Constant: 1367 W/m2

The solar constant is a mean value:

• the earth's orbit is elliptical

• the distance between the sun and earth varies by 3.3%

• Solar irradiation must vary approximately over the year

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 Solar Constant

The exact irradiation incident on a surface of θ=0 just outside

the atmosphere, Gon [W/m2], is calculated from the solar
constant, Gsc, and the day number as follows:

Gon  Gsc  1 0.033  cos 365 

360  n


Solar constant during an entire year
1420
1410
1400
solar constan (w/m2)

1390
1380
1370

1360 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

1350
1340
1330
1320
time (day)

 Solar irradiation varies approximately 45 W/m2 over the year

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 Extraterrestrial Radiation

Extraterrestrial radiation Go [W/m2] is the radiation incident on the

surface tangent to the outer surface of the atmosphere.
It is function of zenith angle, z, thus, it is function of:
latitude, time during the day and number of the day
ER is given by:

Go  Gon  cosθz  Gon  cosφ  cosδ  cosω  sinφ  sinδ

2- What is the ET radiation, Go, at 2 PM in Luleå?

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 Extraterrestrial Radiation

Integrating ET over a specified time, usually an hour or a day,

we obtain hourly or daily radiation:

12   360    cosφ  cosδ    (ω2  ω1) 

Io  Gsc  1 0.033  cos   sinω 2  sinω1 sinφ  
3600 n365  
  180 sinδ 

 360     ω s 
H o  24  3600  
sc 1 0.033 cos 
  cosφ  cosδ sinωs  sinφ  
  n   180 sinδ 
365
G
Solar constant: [W/m2]
Gsc
• Hourly radiation: I0 [J/m2]
• Daily radiation: H0 [J/day. m2]
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 Atmosphere Influence on Solar Radiation

- The atmosphere is ~100-500 km thick and consists of gas

molecules, particles and dust of different concentration
• The composition varies with height, weather, location
and number of pollution sources

- The density of the atmosphere decreases with the altitude

• The atmosphere has no sharp border to space
• 75% of the atmosphere’s mass below 10 km

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 Atmosphere Influence on Solar Radiation

 Significant amount of solar radiation is attenuated as it travels

through the atmosphere.
 This attenuation is due to:
• absorption of solar radiation by different particles in the atmosphere
• backward scattering and reflection of solar radiation by air
particles, water vapor, dust...

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 Atmosphere Influence on Solar Radiation

30% is reflected.
17% is absorbed by the atmosphere.
53% reaches the earth surface:
31% direct radiation
22% diffuse radiation .

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 Atmosphere Influence on Solar Radiation

Beam Radiation Gcb Diffuse Radiation Gcd

 Solar rays reaching the  Solar rays reaching the
ground without change in ground after a change in
direction direction by particles in
the atmosphere

Reflected Radiation
– Solar rays reflected from
surrounding
– Albedo, g, is ground
reflectance of both beam and
diffuse radiation
– Only sloped surfaces receives
reflected radiation from the
surrounding
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 Atmosphere Influence on Solar Radiation

Air Mass ‘m’

The ratio of the path length, which beam radiation passes through
the atmosphere, to the path it would pass through if the Sun
were at the zenith, i.e. directly overhead.
1
C
m  h  cos
z

42
 Radiation on Ground Surface Clear
day

Total radiation received on horizontal surface at ground

surface is:

Gc  Gcb  Gcd

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THANK YOU