Original scientific paper

Analysis of Solar Potential Spatial Data for Croatia

Iva Gašparović orcid.org/0000-0002-1762-3728 ; State Geodetic Administration, Zagreb, Croatia
Mateo Gašparović orcid.org/0000-0003-2345-7882 ; Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Damir Medak ; Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Mladen Zrinjski orcid.org/0000-0003-0834-6009 ; Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

The Republic of Croatia due to its accommodation and mild, Mediterranean climate and a large number of sunny hours is suitable for exploiting solar energy. The newly installed capacities of photovoltaic systems and solar power plants each year are becoming more important in the overall energy consumption due to environmental protection. For the purpose of energy planning and geospatial analysis, the most commonly used solar irradiation measure is global horizontal irradiation (GHI). The main purpose of this study was to explore all available solar energy data sources for Croatia, given that solar potential data is a basic parameter for solar power plant planning. In the research data from known global solar radiation databases were compared. In addition to the available data for Croatia, GHI has been modelled using the module r.sun program in the GRASS GIS program. Its. Comparison and analysis of the r.sun data were also performed with respect to solar radiation data obtained from satellite measurements and measured at Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) stations. Exploring the solar potential data sources for Croatia, it was concluded that none of the available, non-commercial sources of solar potential data does meet the criterion of large spatial resolution, so solar energy modelling is recommended. A comparison of the GHI values from different sources has shown that solar energy data measured on MSG (Meteosat Second Generation) satellites correlate best with measurements at BSRN stations. Analysing modelled solar potential data has shown that the data obtained by the r.sun module are more accurate than the data of the commercial provider SoDa (Solar Radiation Data) also have suitable resolution and can be used to determine the optimal locations for exploiting solar energy.

Keywords

solar potential; spatial data; geospatial analysis; GIS; energy planning; GHI

Hrčak ID:

218854

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/218854

Publication date:

25.3.2019.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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