Producing Global Solar Radiation maps in Iraq Using Geographic Information Systems

Abstract

The design and operation of any solar energy system requires a good knowledge of the solar radiation data in a location. This data finds application in agriculture, climatology, meteorology, etc. Since the solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface varies with climatic conditions of a place, a study of solar radiation under local climatic condition is essential. Global solar radiation is of economic importance as renewable energy alternatives. In this research 14 Iraqi climatic stations radiation data were used for the years 2013 to 2015.  Data have been designed and calculated by using Excel.  ArcGIS 10.2 is used for spatial interpolation and mapping activities. Surface radiation map have been generated by using ordinary kriging interpolation technique. Different models are tested, namely Spherical, Gaussian and Circular model. Creation of digital grid maps makes it possible to obtain climatic information at any point, whether there is a weather station or not. Results show that the spherical model outperforms Gaussian and circular models.