Aust Solar Data

CONDENSED SOLAR RADIATION DATA BASE FOR AUSTRALIA

by

Graham L. Morrison and Alex Litvak

Report No 1/1999

Solar Thermal Energy Laboratory

University of New South Wales

Sydney

Australia

Condensed solar radiation data base for Australia UNSW 1

ABSTRACT Australian solar irradiation data catalogued in the Australian Solar Radiation Data Handbook has been combined with other meteorological data and organized into condensed one year records of hourly meteorological data (Typical Meteorological Year Data). Each data record lists global solar irradiation on a horizontal surface, direct beam solar irradiation on a sun tracking surface, dry bulb ambient temperature, wet bulb ambient temperature, wind speed and direction and cloud cover. Analysis of the output of solar thermal systems using this condensed input data set is shown to give a reliable estimate of the long term average annual performance of a wide range of solar thermal systems. INTRODUCTION An essential part of the development of computer based solar energy system design and sizing is the acceptance of a common solar radiation data base to minimize calculation time and to facilitate comparative studies made by different organizations. The data records used in the Australian Solar Radiation Data Handbook are available in computer compatible form, however few users could justify the effort involved in working from this basic data because of the difficulty of manipulating and storing 18 years of hourly records for each location of interest. Inaddition many studies of solar energy systems require concurrent records of solar irradiation and other meteorological data such as temperature , wind speed and cloud cover. Concurrent data was developed by Walsh [1] for 18 locations for the period 1969-1978. Since 1982 five more stations have been added to the Bureau of Meteorology network, however this additional data has not been processed into concurrent records of solar irradiation ,temperature, wind speed and cloud cover. This paper outlines the development of a typical meteorological year condensed solar radiation data base consisting of hourly records of concurrent factors for 24 locations in Australia. SOLAR RADIATION DATA SOURCES FOR AUSTRALIA Australian solar radiation records have been studied by Walsh et al [1], Roy and Miller [2] and Fick et al [3]. The Australian Solar Radiation Data Handbook [3] is the most comprehensive record of data collected by the Bureau of Meteorology and extensive derived solar irradiation characteristics. Long term measurements of global solar irradiation are available for 21 sites in Australia [3]. Records starting in 1982 or 1983 are also available for Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Kalgoorlie (tables 1 and 2). Before this data can be used for solar system performance analysis missing records must be filled by typical values. A major amalgamation and checking of data available up to 1986 was carried out by Fick et al [3]. This data is available from NERDDP via Techsearch Inc [5].


SOLAR RADIATION USER REQUIREMENTS The performance of active and passive solar energy systems can be determined by detailed simulation or by correlation models. Most correlation models use monthly average daily solar irradiation data which has been documented for the main population centres in Australia [2,6,7]. Detailed simulation of system performance usually requires hourly data for the following parameters

• global horizontal irradiation and beam irradiation • dry and wet bulb temperatures • wind speed and direction • cloud cover

The existing data sets compiled by Walsh [1] consists of 10 to 12 years of records for 16 locations however these data files are very large and hence are difficult to use in all except mainframe computer environments. CONDENSED SOLAR RADIATION DATA SETS Solar radiation and meteorology data must be measured for many years inorder to obtain representative data of long term average conditions. Once long data records are available the long term average performance of a solar energy system can be determined by simulating the system performance over the full length of data. However the cost of using an entire data set for even one location is prohibitive for users with access to high speed mainframe computers, and the run time is excessive for small computer systems. To reduce the time taken to evaluate long term performance most users rely on a "typical year" of data. Typical meteorological data should have the following features [8]

• radiation, ambient temperature and wind speed should have frequency distributions which are close to the long term distributions.

• the sequence of daily data should be like the sequences registered at the location.

• the relationships among the different parameters in the data set should be like the

relationships observed in nature.

The North American typical meteorological year data was developed by comparing the cumulative distribution function of each year with the cumulative distribution for the long term composite of all available data (typically 23 years of data ). The final year of typical data was generated by combining 12 particular typical months of data. The selection of each month was determined on a weighted average of each statistic, with solar radiation contributing one half of the weighting.


SELECTION OF TYPICAL DATA FROM AUSTRALIAN SOLAR RADIATION RECORDS As solar radiation records in Australia are relatively short the statistical approach used in the North American typical meteorological year data study could not be reliably applied. An alternative method of selecting typical data is to examine the results of a large number of solar system simulation runs and to select the particular month that produces a result closest to the average for that month. The main problem with this approach is that the relative importance of each parameter may differ for different solar energy systems. However an advantage of this method is that a weighted average selection criteria does not have to be used since the simulation model includes the correct relative weighting of the input parameters. This procedure has been applied to Australian solar radiation records using radiation on horizontal, latitude slope and vertical surfaces, Heat Tables for 3 collector types and the performance of a solar water heater, as inputs to the procedure. These factors were evaluated for the full data set and used to select the most typical year for each month. The solar collector performance characteristics used to generate typical months ranged from passive/unglazed collectors operating near ambient temperature to a glazed collector operating at 110°C. The three most typical years for each characteristic were determined and the final selection of one year was made by comparing the standard deviation of the global horizontal irradiation for each of the 3 years with the average standard deviation for all appropriate months in the data set. Typical results of this selection procedure for January in Sydney are shown in Table 3, the most typical year in terms of delivered energy is clearly 1981. When the RMS values of the radiation are examined (Table 4) 1981 is also seen to be the most typical year. The choice of a particular month is not always as clear as in the above example, some times the best year in terms of mean energy output is not the most typical year in terms of the variation of daily radiation and hence the next best year may have to be selected. Wind speed is included in the concurrent data sets, however it was not considered in the typical meteorological year data selection process. This procedure has been applied to 22 locations in the Australian solar data network the monthly components of each TMY data set are listed in table 5. The data for Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra is based on less than 4 years of data hence the typical year records will need to be updated when additional data becomes available. TIME BASIS OF FILES FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES Unfortunately the time basis of the data depends on the source of the data. Data records for Sydney are in Eastern Standard Time while data records for other locations are in Mean Solar Time. The time stamp of data records for Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney is the end of the solar integration period. The time stamp for all other locations is the midpoint of the solar integration period.


COMPARISON OF TYPICAL METEOROLOGICAL YEAR AND LONG TERM AVERAGE DATA Typical meteorological year meteorological data for 3 locations is compared with the long term average data in table 6. Also shown is the computed annual performance of 4 types of solar thermal energy system based on TMY data and the long term average annual performance for the full weather data set. These results show that the TMY data has the correct properties for predicting the output of both low temperature and high temperature solar thermal systems. A summary of the typical meteorological year global solar irradiation on a horizontal plane is shown in tables 7 to 12 for 22 locations in the Australian solar radiation monitoring network. Detailed hourly irradiation characteristics of the TMY data sets are shown in tables 13-34, the format of these tables is the same as corresponding tables in the Australian Solar Radiation Data Handbook [3]. CONCLUSIONS A simplified procedure for selecting typical meteorological year solar irradiation and ambient temperature records has been applied to Australian solar irradiation data. Solar system performance analysis using typical meteorological year data records has been shown to give reliable estimates of the long term performance of both low and medium temperature solar thermal energy systems. The Australian typical meteorological year data sets developed during this project are available on computer disk or tape for each of the 22 locations listed in table 5, see appendix 1 for data availability and format. REFERENCES [1] Walsh.P.J, Munro.M.C and Spencer.J.W "An Australian data bank for use in the estimation of building energy use" CSIRO Division of Building Research (1983). [2] Roy.G.G and Miller.S.G , "Data handbook for Australian solar energy designers", School of Architecture University of WA Report No 7 (1980). [3] Fick.R.a, Walsh.P.J, RIce.S.P and Leadbeater.M, "Australian Solar Radiation Data Handbook", National Energy Research Development and Demonstration Council , August 1987. [4] Morrison,G.L., Sapsford,C.M. and Litvak,A. "Solar Radiation on Inclined and Sun Tracking Surfaces in Sydney", Report 1981/FMT/10 (Kensington, University of New South Wales) [5] Techsearch Inc, South Australian Institute of Technology Adelaide South Australia. [6] Paltridge and Proctor "Monthly mean solar radiation statistics for Australia" Solar Energy V18,235-243 (1976).


[7] Bureau of Meteorology "Catalogue of Solar Radiation Data", Australian Government Publishing Service 1979. [8] Bahm.R.J "Radiometry-The data" Advances in Solar Energy, American Solar Energy Society eds Boer.K.W and Duffie.J.A (1982).


Table 1.

Hourly global solar radiation records in Australia

Site Start date Processed Source of of records data data ________________________________________________________ New South Wales Sydney 1972 1972-1986 A/B Wagga 1969 1969-1986 B Williamtown 1969 1969-1986 B Northern Territory Alice Springs 1969 1969-1986 B Darwin 1969 1969-1986 B Queensland Brisbane 1983 1983-1986 B Longreach 1969 1969-1986 B Rockhampton 1974 1973-1986 B South Australia Adelaide 1983 1983-1986 B Mt.Gambier 1969 1969-1986 B Oodnadatta 1969 1969-1986 B Woomera 1969 1969-1986 B Tasmania Hobart 1969 1969-1986 B Victoria Laverton 1968 1968-1986 B Melbourne 1967 1967-1986 B Mildura 1969 1969-1986 B West Australia Albany 1968 1968-1986 B Forrest 1970 1970-1986 B Geraldton 1969 1969-1986 B Hall's Creek 1970 1970-1986 B Kalgoorlie 1982 1982-1986 B Perth 1973 1973-1986 B Port Headland 1969 1969-1986 B ACT Canberra 1983 1983-1986 B Data Sources A - School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering University of NSW (1972 - 1983) [4] B - Bureau of Meteorology starting 1983


Table 2

Details of Measurement Sites

Site Latitude

decimal deg South

Longitude decimal deg

West

Deviation from local meridian

Elevation m

Time Zone

New South Wales 14 Sydney 33.93 208.83 1.17 32 Wagga 35.17 212.53 -2.53 224 Williamtown

32.82 208.17 1.83 12

Northern Territory 14.5 Alice Springs 23.82 226.1 -8.6 547 Darwin

12.42 229.13 -11.63 35

Queensland 14 Brisbane 27.42 206.92 3.08 6 Lonreach 23.43 215.73 -5.73 195 Rockhampton

23.38 209.52 0.48 8

South Australia 14.5 Adelaide 34.97 221.47 -3.97 11 Mt Gambier 37.75 219.22 -1.72 63 Oodnadatta 27.57 224.58 -7.08 113 Woomera

31.15 223.50 -6.00 165

Tasmania 14 Hobart

42.83 212.5 -2.5 8

Victoria 14 Laverton 37.88 215.25 -5.25 14 Melbourne 37.83 215.03 -5.03 123 Mildura

34.25 217.92 -7.92 53

West Australia 16 Albany 34.95 242.2 -2.2 71 Forrest 30.83 231.88 8.12 157 Geraldton 28.8 245.22 5.22 35 Hall's Creek 18.23 232.33 7.67 423 Kalgoorlie 30.78 238.50 1.5 360 Perth 31.93 244.03 -4.03 360 Port Headland

20.38 241.38 -1.38 11

ACT 14 Canberra 35.32 210.8 -0.8 8 Note: Data records for Sydney are in Eastern Standard Time.

Data records for other locations are in Mean Solar Time The time stamp for Adelaide, Brisbane,Canberra and Sydney is the end of the solar integration period. The time stamp for all other locations is the midpoint of the solar integration period.


Data Record Time Steps Longitude deviation from

local time zone Time at end of first radiation period

Local time Mean solar time HH:MM HH HH:MM HH New South Wales Sydney 1.17 1:00 1.00 1:04 1.07 Wagga -2.53 1:40 1.67 1:30 1.50 Williamstown 1.83 1:23 1.38 1:30 1.50 Northern Territory Alice Springs -8.60 1:34 1.57 1:00 1.00 Darwin -11.63 1:17 1.28 0:30 0.50 Queensland Brisbane 3.08 0:48 0.75 1:00 1.00 Longreach -5.73 1:23 1.38 1:00 1.00 Rockhampton 0.48 1:28 1.47 1:30 1.50 South Australia Adelaide -3.97 1:16 1.20 1:00 1.00 Mt. Gambier -1.72 1:37 1.67 1:30 1.50 Oodnadatta -7.08 1:28 1.47 1:00 1.00 Tasmania Hobart -2.5 1:41 1.68 1:30 1.50 Victoria Laverton -5.25 1:21 1.35 1.00 1.00 Melbourne -5.03 1:20 1.33 1:00 1.00 Mildura -7.92 1:32 1.53 1:00 1.00 West Australia Albany -2.20 1:39 1.65 1:30 1.50 Forrest 8.12 1:28 1.47 2:00 2.00 Geraldton -5.22 1:21 1.35 1:00 1.00 Hall's Creek 7.67 1:29 1.48 2:00 2.00 Perth -4.03 1.16 1.27 1.00 1.00 Port Headland -1.38 1:36 1.50 1:00 1.00 ACT Canberra -0.80 1:04 0.93 1:00 1.00


Table 3.

Selection of typical years for January in Sydney

Collector / radiation | Typical Years type | --------------------------|------------------ | Horizontal global | 81 73 82 irradiation | | Global irradiation | 81 73 82 on 34 deg slope | | Global irradiation | 81 73 82 on vertical plane | | Direct beam irradiation| 81 76 73 on sun tracking surface| | Unglazed collector | 82 81 73 output at 20 C | | Glazed collector | 81 82 73 output at 40 C | | Glazed collector | 81 73 82 output at 80 C | | Solar water heater | 73 81 82 system output |

Table 4.

RMS deviation of daily global horizontal radiation (Sydney/January)

Year | RMS (MJ)

---------|---------- 72 | 9.2 73 | 8.5 74 | 8.2 75 | 7.0 76 | 8.8 77 | 2.4 78 | 8.7 79 | 7.8 80 | 7.7 81 | 8.3 82 | 7.8 83 | 7.6

Average | 8.1


Table 5.

Monthly components of typical data for australian irradiation and ambient temperature records

Location | Most Typical Years | |Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec |------------------------------------------------ Sydney | 81 80 78 82 79 72 83 72 81 82 83 73 | Wagga | 74 75 73 70 73 76 72 78 71 79 69 73 | Williamtown | 79 74 79 72 74 75 77 79 74 70 77 73 | Alice Springs 78 79 74 70 70 79 76 75 77 69 74 71 | Darwin | 69 71 69 78 78 70 79 75 78 77 71 70 | Brisbane | 83 84 84 84 84 84 83 83 83 83 85 84 | Longreach | 79 70 74 70 72 75 77 74 79 79 72 78 | Rockhampton | 78 76 75 75 75 76 78 75 74 74 78 77 | Adelaide | 83 84 84 85 84 83 83 85 85 84 83 83 | Mt.Gambier | 76 77 72 69 78 69 74 76 78 72 75 74 | Oodnadatta | 78 77 75 73 77 69 69 71 77 78 73 73 | Hobart | 76 71 74 78 74 75 76 72 75 79 74 68 | Laverton | 77 77 77 78 73 75 72 70 78 69 72 76 | Melbourne | 75 71 75 73 76 78 78 72 78 70 69 68 | Mildura | 69 76 75 69 74 69 69 73 75 79 78 70 | Albany | 77 71 72 71 74 77 73 72 77 79 70 70 | Forrest | 76 78 75 70 77 72 73 70 75 73 74 77 | Geraldton | 77 74 75 74 70 71 75 71 72 70 72 72 | Hall's Creek| 76 74 72 70 70 73 79 73 73 73 78 71 | Perth | 73 78 74 76 76 77 74 76 73 74 78 77 | Port Headland 71 69 79 73 79 69 74 71 77 71 71 70 | Canberra | 84 84 84 84 85 85 84 84 84 84 84 85


Table 6

Comparison of annual irradiation and solar energy system performance based on typical meteorogical year (TMY) and long term average data

Irradiation/ | Sydney Melbourne Perth Collector | TMY Long TMY Long TMY Long type | data term data term data term | average average average | data data data ------------------|------------------------------------------ Horizontal global | 16.7 16.9 14.5 14.6 19.0 19.0 irradiation MJ/m2 | | Global irradiation| 18.7 19.0 15.9 16.0 20.8 20.7 on slope=latitude | MJ/m2 | | Global irradiation| 12.0 12.1 10.2 10.3 12.3 12.3 on vertical plane | MJ/m2 | | Beam irradiation | on Sun tracking | 18.1 18.6 14.1 14.6 21.4 21.7 surface MJ/m2 | | Unglazed collector| 13.3 13.3 9.6 9.7 15.2 15.3 output at 20°C | MJ/m2 | | Glazed collector | 8.9 8.9 6.7 6.8 10.1 10.1 output at 40°C | MJ/m2 | | Glazed collector | 5.4 5.5 4.1 4.2 6.2 6.2 output at 110°C | MJ/m2 | | Solar water heater| annual energy | 54.3 54.3 39.5 39.7 61.8 60.3 savings % |


Table 7

Comparison of typical meteorological year and long term average data global irradiation on a horizontal surface

ADELAIDE Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 29.8 26.8 20.3 13.9 9.7 8.6 8.1 10.9 16.2 22.2 25.4 27.5 18.3 AVE 29.6 26.2 19.6 13.7 9.7 8.3 8.0 11.2 16.0 21.8 24.9 27.1 17.8

ALBANY

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 24.7 21.5 16.1 11.3 8.8 7.6 8.4 11.0 14.4 18.5 21.4 25.2 15.7 AVE 24.7 20.6 16.4 11.5 8.8 7.6 8.3 10.8 14.4 18.6 21.1 24.6 15.5

ALICE SPRINGS


BRISBANE Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 24.3 21.8 19.5 15.2 12.5 10.9 11.1 15.3 18.9 20.5 20.0 23.7 17.8 AVE 24.2 22.2 19.7 14.9 11.8 11.1 11.3 15.1 19.0 20.3 21.9 24.1 17.5

CANBERRA


DARWIN


FORREST


GERALDTON


HALLS CREEK


HOBART



LAVERTON Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 25.0 21.8 17.1 12.0 7.9 6.4 7.4 10.1 13.7 18.2 21.6 24.9 15.5 AVE 24.6 22.2 16.6 11.6 8.0 6.5 7.4 10.0 13.8 18.3 21.8 24.4 15.3

LONGREACH Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 25.8 23.0 22.3 20.3 16.0 14.7 16.6 19.1 22.8 26.2 27.0 27.4 21.8 AVE 25.9 24.0 22.9 20.2 16.0 15.1 16.1 19.2 23.0 25.8 27.7 25.7 22.0

MELBOURNE Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 23.1 21.8 16.2 11.0 7.4 5.9 6.7 9.0 12.0 17.2 20.5 23.4 14.5 AVE 24.2 21.6 16.0 11.0 7.4 5.9 6.7 9.1 12.6 17.4 21.0 23.7 14.6

MILDURA


MT GAMBIER Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 25.3 23.5 16.1 10.8 7.8 6.4 7.1 9.8 13.5 17.7 20.6 24.4 15.3 AVE 24.5 22.2 16.1 10.9 7.7 6.4 7.0 9.6 13.3 18.0 20.8 23.6 14.9

OODNADATTA


PERTH Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 29.1 25.1 21.4 15.1 10.9 8.7 9.4 12.2 17.2 21.9 26.5 28.3 18.8 AVE 29.2 25.5 21.3 15.2 10.8 8.8 9.5 12.3 16.8 21.9 25.3 28.3 18.3

PORT HEADLAND Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 27.1 24.9 23.2 21.3 16.8 16.2 17.0 19.8 24.0 27.2 28.8 28.4 22.9 AVE 26.7 25.2 24.0 21.0 17.4 16.1 17.2 20.3 24.2 27.4 29.0 28.8 23.1

ROCKHAMPTON Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 22.0 20.6 19.5 17.8 13.9 13.7 14.8 16.5 19.4 21.9 24.2 24.3 19.0 AVE 22.6 20.7 20.0 17.4 14.0 13.7 14.2 17.0 19.9 22.2 23.5 24.3 19.0

SYDNEY Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 22.5 20.4 17.3 13.6 9.9 8.7 10.7 13.0 16.9 19.9 22.5 25.0 16.7 AVE 22.4 20.6 16.7 14.0 10.5 8.5 10.7 13.0 16.9 20.1 23.3 26.1 16.9

WAGGA WAGGA Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year TMY 26.7 23.8 19.9 14.3 9.6 7.9 8.6 11.4 15.5 20.5 26.1 28.8 17.8 AVE 27.3 24.8 20.0 14.6 9.8 7.9 8.6 11.3 16.0 20.9 25.7 28.1 17.9


WILLIAMTOWN



Data Format One hourly record per line, 8760 lines of data per file, format(1X,3I2,5I3,I2,I1)

Character Data 1 Blank

2-3 month 4-5 day 6-7 hour 8-10 horizontal global irradiation, MJ*100/h 11-13 direct beam irradiation on a sun tracking surface,

MJ*100/h. 14-16 ambient temperature, C*10. 17-19 wind speed, m/s *10 20-22 wet bulb temperature, C*10. 23-24 wind direction, 16 compass points, 00=calm,

0=north, 4=east,8=south 25 cloud cover, oktas (0 - 8)

Note

• data records for Sydney are in Eastern Standard Time. • data records for other locations are in Mean Solar Time • time stamp of data records for Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney is the end of the

solar integration period • time stamp for all other locations is the midpoint of the solar • integration period

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