Abstract

This study applied geospatial techniques to merge ground-measured solar radiation data with satellitederived solar radiation data to assess solar energy potentials in Kano state of Northwestern Nigeria. Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation was used to map the ground-measured and the satellite solar radiation data. The ground measurements of solar radiation were obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the satellite solar radiation data were obtained from National Aeronautics and Space Administration Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy (NASA SSE). The solar radiation data is in kilowatt hour per meter square per day (kWh/m2/day). The ground-measured solar radiation data was merged with the satellite-derived solar radiation data to produce calibrated maps of solar radiation in the area. The calibration method was validated using the Mean Bias Error (MBE), Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). The validation process of the merging method obtained average MBE values of -0.45%, RMSE of 0.46%, and MAE of 0.57%. These values indicate a good performance of the merging method used in this study.

Keywords:Solar radiation; Solar energy; Satellite data; Ground measurement