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Hotspots of solar potential in India
T V Ramachandra1,2,3,* Rishabh Jain1 Gautham Krishnadas1
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1 Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Center for Ecological Sciences [CES],
2 Centre for Sustainable Technologies (astra),
3 Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning [CiSTUP],
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560 012, India
METHODOLOGY
NASA SSE Global insolation datasets are derived from a physical model based on the radiative transfer in the atmosphere along with parameterization of its absorption and scattering properties. The primary inputs to this model include visible and infrared radiation, inferred cloud and surface properties, temperature, precipitable water, column ozone amounts and atmospheric variables such as temperature and pressure measured using diverse satellite instruments. The longwave and shortwave solar radiations reflected to the satellite sensors along with the collected primary inputs are studied to obtain the global insolation for different locations and durations. The 1°X1° spatial resolution SSE global insolation data derived for a period of 22 years (July 1st, 1983 to June 30th, 2005) were validated (RMSE of 10.28%) with Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) data available as daily, monthly and annual averages obtained from measured values every 3 hours and is accessible at the NASA SSE web portal http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/sse/ [28].
In this study, the NASA SSE monthly average Global insolation data is collected for more than 900 grids which optimally cover the entire topography of India within the latitudes 8° to 38°N and longitudes 68° to 98°E. A geo-statistical bilinear interpolation is employed to produce monthly average Global insolation maps for the country detailed with isohels (defined as lines/contours of equal solar radiation) using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Regions receiving favorable annual global insolation for the electricity generation with technologies like SPV and CSP and the prospects for successful solar devices dissemination are demarcated as solar hotspots.
Devices such as CSP depend on Direct component of Global insolation, hence its intensity in the identified solar hotspots in India is verified based on surface measurements obtained from solar radiation stations.
The Direct insolation is given by
| * Address for Correspondence: | |
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Dr. T.V. Ramachandra Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012, INDIA. Tel : 91-80-23600985 / 22932506 / 22933099, Fax : 91-80-23601428 / 23600085 / 23600683 [CES-TVR] E-mail : cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in, energy@ces.iisc.ernet.in, Web : http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy |
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