Development of solar isodose lines: Mercatorian and spatial guides for mapping solar installation areas

• Published in: Heliyon Vol. 8; no. 10; p. e11045
• Main Authors: Nnamchi, Stephen Ndubuisi, Mundu, Mustafa Muhamad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2022; Elsevier
• Subjects: Distributed and concentrated areas; Distributed and concentrated SPP; Isodose; Mercatorian coordinate; Solar facilities; Spatial coordinate; Distributed and concentrated SPP; Distributed and concentrated areas; Solar facilities; Spatial coordinate; Isodose; Mercatorian coordinate
• ISSN: 2405-8440; 2405-8440
• DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11045

•The Solar Power Potential (SPP) concentrated areas are enclosed by maximum isodose line.•The SPP concentrated areas are useful for the installation of efficient solar facilities.•The effective mercatorian coordinates bounding SPP concentrated areas were determined from the SPP contours.•The concentrated districts were identified with the aid of effective mercatorian coordinates.•The effective mercatorian and spatial isodose lines enhance the accuracy of solar facilities installation. Mercatorian and spatial studies of solar power potential (SPP) provide technical guides for mapping actual solar installation areas for the efficient performance of photovoltaic plants. Acquisition and processing of satellite and on-station data on clearness index, relative sunshine hours, latitude, longitude and SPP preceded their modeling and simulations. The mercatorian SPP model is a geometric function of latitude and longitude, whereas the spatial SPP model is a function of x and y coordinates developed from the Haversine formula. Multiple isodose lines and a single maximum isodose line characterized the distributed and concentrated SPP contours, respectively. The present geometric SPP model validated well with the measured SPP with insignificant error results for the study areas. The Concentrated SPPs: 757.5, 635.2, 557.5 and 405.9 W/m2 with their corresponding percentage concentrated areas (actual): 28.85(29084.6), 41.48(15368.6), 4.37(1179.6) and 0.75(635.7)%(m2) for Northern Region (NR), Eastern Region (ER), Central Region (CR) and Western Region (WR), respectively. These results support the efficient performance of solar facilities within the confine of the SPP concentrated areas. The effective mercatorian coordinates were useful in identifying districts within the SPP concentrated areas. Furthermore, the high magnitude of the SPP in ER and NR supports that they are favored for the installation of solar facilities. Isodose; Mercatorian coordinate; Spatial coordinate; Distributed and concentrated SPP; Distributed and concentrated areas; Solar facilities