Estimation of Global Solar Irradiance at the Complicate Terrains in Zhejiang Province, China

Few in-situ solar radiation data is available over mountainous areas. As a result, the global solar radiation in these areas is generally accessed by the estimation of modeling. In this study, a distributed model was applied to estimate the global solar irradiance in Zhejiang using horizontal direct and diffuse irradiance from 6SV (Second Simulation of a Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum, Vector) lookup table, and topographical parameters extracted from DEM (digital elevation model). The results indicated that the estimation of global solar irradiance is satisfied with 6SV LUT (coefficient of determination (R²) is 0.9816, and root mean square error (RMSE) is 45.0W/m²). The global solar irradiance at 1-km resolution in Zhejiang Province show spatial variations, especially with the variations of aspects.