Evaluation and comparison of hourly solar radiation models

In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop a new model to evaluate the hourly solar radiation for composite climate of New Delhi. The comparison of new model for hourly solar radiation has been carried out by using various model proposed by others. The root mean square error (RMSE) and mean bias error (MBE) have been used to compare the accuracy of new and others model. The results show that the ASHRAE and new proposed model estimate hourly solar radiation better for composite climate of New Delhi in comparison to other models. Hourly solar radiation estimated by constants obtained by new model (modified ASHRAE model) for composite climate of India is fairly comparable with measured data. The percentage mean bias error with new constants for New Delhi was found as low as 0.15 and 0% for hourly beam and diffuse radiation, respectively. There is a 1.9-8.5% RMSE between observed and predicted values of beam radiation using new constants for clear days. The statistical analysis has been used for the present study. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.