Estimation and Simulation of Solar Radiation in Certain Iraqi Governorates

In Iraq, the solar radiation is available in huge amounts so it can be regarded as a useful source of energy. Therefore, it is important to recognize its amount and behavior. This paper studied the behavior of extraterrestrial, global, diffused, and beam radiation and compares them with those measured by metrological station. The effect of collector tilt angle is also presented. Results in general showed a good closeness between calculated and measured radiations for almost cases. It is noted that Musul city have the greater ranges of global radiation than Baghdad and Nasiriya while Nasiriya have greater extraterrestrial radiation than Musul and Baghdad, this difference may be caused by environmental effects such as dust, humidity, wind speed and etc. These generalized curves are probably necessary in the design and the prediction of potentiality of any solar system applications at this location