Reference Solar Radiation Year and Some Climatology Aspects of East Coast of West Malaysia

Problem statement: This study examined in detail some aspects of radia tion climatology for Terengganu state in Malaysia. The geographical co-ordinates of the site are 5°10'N latitude 103°06'E longitude and 5.2 m altitude. Approach: The data used in the present study were taken from a recording data station installed at site by the M alaysian Meteorology Department (2004). In addition to this, wind speed, solar radiation and air temper ature data taken from University Malaysia Terengganu Renewable Energy Station were also analyzed. The averaged solar radiation year for Terengganu is generated from mid-term daily global solar radiation data. The averaged data of the daily global solar radiation for the locations cons idered are presented in a tabular form for a comple te year. Results: The highest daily and monthly mean global solar irr adiation values were 7560 and 6566 Wh m -2 day -1 , respectively. The highest hourly average solar ir radiance intensity was 1139 W m -2 during this study period. Yearly average daily sol ar energy was 18.92 MJ m -2 day -1 . Besides the global solar radiation, the clearness indexes, wind speed and air temperature variation are discussed. Conclusion/Recommendations: The results in this study will fill the gap that c omplete and detailed reference solar radiation and climatologically data , which are not available for Terengganu state of Malaysia and will be useful to the designers of sol ar energy conversion and utilization devices.

[1]  Kamaruzzaman Sopian,et al.  A new approach for predicting solar radiation in tropical environment using satellite images - Case study of Malaysia , 2008 .

[2]  A. A. El-Sebaii,et al.  Estimation of horizontal diffuse solar radiation in Egypt , 2003 .

[3]  W. Chow,et al.  Solar radiation model , 2001 .

[4]  J. C. Lam,et al.  Solar heat gain factors and the implications to building designs in subtropical regions , 2000 .

[5]  Constantinos A. Balaras,et al.  Comparison of methodologies for tmy generation using 20 years data for Athens, Greece , 1999 .

[6]  S. Kalogirou,et al.  Generation of a “typical meteorological year” for Nicosia, Cyprus , 1998 .

[7]  M. A. Mosalam Shaltout,et al.  Typical solar radiation year for Egypt , 1994 .

[8]  William A. Beckman,et al.  Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes, 2nd ed. , 1994 .

[9]  K. Sopian,et al.  Estimates of monthly average daily global solar radiation in Malaysia , 1992 .

[10]  H. Hu,et al.  Solar and net radiation in Peninsular Malaysia , 1983 .

[11]  S. Tuller.  SOLAR AND NET RADIATION OVER SNOW , 1977 .

[12]  Kamaruzzaman Sopian,et al.  Time series analysis of solar radiation data in the tropics , 2009 .

[13]  E. Mathioulakis,et al.  A new method for typical weather data selection to evaluate long-term performance of solar energy systems , 2001 .

[14]  R. 'Layi Fagbenle,et al.  Generation of a test reference year for Ibadan, Nigeria , 1995 .

[15]  Syed A.M. Said,et al.  Generation of representative weather-year data for Saudi Arabia , 1994 .

[16]  S. L. Lee,et al.  Solar radiation in peninsular Malaysia—Statistical presentations , 1982 .

[17]  S. L. Lee,et al.  Solar radiation estimates in Malaysia , 1981 .