Modelling atmospheric radiative transfer conditions and its comparison to empirical solar irradiance in South Africa

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate the performance of solar irradiance modelling to ground based data in an urban environment. The ability to accurately model and in turn determine solar irradiance as it propagates through the atmosphere, and predict the potential for renewable energy application, has lured investment opportunities and has become a topic of interest over the past couple of years as the price of solar panels have dropped. Modelling here is done with SMARTS 2.9.5, a cost free open source modelling program. This investigation analyses and compares the performance of the SMARTS model, using a varying complexity of input parameters, to see under which conditions the model best simulates results gathered by ground instrumentation based in Pretoria, South Africa.