Solar Energy Potentials In Cambodia

The main objective of this project is to investigate the solar energy potentials
Of Cambodia by using the satellite approach . A model for calculating solar radiation from satellite data was improved and used in this work. A 13- year period (1995-2007) of satellite image data from GMS5,GOES9 and MTSAT satellites were employed as input of the model. This model accounts for the reflectivity of cloud, absorption of water vapour, ozone and radiation depletion by aerosols. The solar radiation reflected bythe air molecules, clouds and ground was obtained from the satellit data. The absorption of solar radiation due to water vapour was calculated from precipitable water derived from ambient relative humidity and temperature feom Cambodian meteorological stations. Ozone data from the TOMS/EP satallite were employed to compute the solar radiation absorption by ozone. The depletion of radiation due to aerosols wasestimated from the visibility data collected from meteorological stations in Cambodia and neighboring countries. Solar radiation monitoring systems were established at 5 Cambodian cities, namely Phnom Penh, Sihanouke Ville, Kampot, Kompong Thom and Siem Reap,Global solar radiations from these systems were collected and used for the validation of the satellite model. The validation was also carried out by using solar radiation measured at four Thai meteorological stations: Ubon Ratchathani, Surin, Aranyaprathet and Trad, and at one station in Lao People's Democratic Republic, namely Pakse. The solar radiation calculated from the model agreed well with that obtained from the measurements, with the root mean square difference of 4.3 %. After the validation,the model was employed to calculate monthly average daily global solar radiation for the entire country. The results were displayed as monthly radiation maps and a yearly map. The monthly maps shown that the radiation of solar radiation in Cambodia is affected by the monsoons and local geography. The solar radiation is highest in March and April for most parts of the country. The yearly map reveals that the south-eastern part of the country receives the higest