Simple new methods to estimate global solar radiation based on meteorological data in Egypt

Three simple methods to estimate global solar radiation are proposed in addition to (Solar Energy 63 (1998) 147). All were tested seasonally and at different sky conditions at seven locations in Egypt. The methods use ground-based measurements of maximum and minimum temperature, daily mean of cloud cover and extraterrestrial global radiation. Average of root mean square differences (RMSD) for a comparison between observed and estimated global radiation for all locations tested was around 10% for the new methods and 13% for Supit–Van Kappel method. The coefficient of determination R2 is higher for the new methods for all tested locations. Better results were obtained when applying the new methods to different seasons. The differences in root mean square error (RMSE) between the new methods and Ångstrom–Prescott method that is based on sunshine duration data were less than 1.0 MJ m−2 day−1 at all sites. On the whole, the performance statistics demonstrate that the new methods are better when compared by Ångstrom–Prescott method.