Application of semi-empirical models based on satellite images for estimating solar irradiance in Korea

Pranda M.P. Garniwa, Raden A.A. Ramadhan, Hyun Jin Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The application of solar energy as a renewable energy source has significantly escalated owing to its abundance and availability worldwide. However, the intermittent behavior of solar irradiance is a serious disadvantage for electricity grids using photovoltaic (PV) systems. Thus, reliable solar irradiance data are vital to achieve consistent energy production. Geostationary satellite images have become a solution to this issue, as they represent a database for solar irradiance on a massive spatiotemporal scale. The estimation of global horizontal irradiance (GHI) using satellite images has been developed based on physical and semi-empirical models, but only a few studies have been dedicated to modeling GHI using semi-empirical models in Korea. Therefore, this study conducted a comparative analysis to determine the most suitable semi-empirical model of GHI in Korea. Considering their applicability, the Beyer, Rigollier, Hammer, and Perez, models were selected to estimate the GHI over Seoul, Korea. After a comparative evaluation, the Hammer model was determined to be the best model. This study also introduced a hybrid model and applied a long short-term memory (LSTM) model in order to improve prediction accuracy. The hybrid model exhibited a smaller root-mean-square error (RMSE), 97.08 W/m2, than that of the Hammer model, 103.92 W/m2, while producing a comparable mean-bias error. Meanwhile, the LSTM model showed the potential to further reduce the RMSE by 11.2%, compared to the hybrid model.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3445
JournalApplied Sciences (Switzerland)
Volume11
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Apr 2021

Keywords

  • Clear-sky model
  • Cloud index
  • Global horizontal irradiance
  • Satellite images
  • Semi-empirical models

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