A GEO-STATISTICAL MODEL FOR DOWNSCALING SOLAR IRRADIATION DATA: A CASE OF ODISHA

Abstract

Most of the environ-climatic issues are caused by the over-burning of fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum. Our over-dependency on non-renewable resources has led us to over-exploitation of fossil Fuels. Sustainable development has become one of the causes of the growing demand for clean energy. With the current development of new technology, the efficiency of solar panels has increased severalfold. So, identifying the energy resources properly is the most immediate need and geospatial technology provides the proper medium for it. In this study, a genuine effort has been made to devise a very simple but effective high-resolution solar energy downscaling model using satellite imagery and GIS technology. The model downscales the low-resolution Solar Irradiation satellite product(4km) to the resolution of the DEM(50m), by using the basic principles of Sunlight interaction with the Slope and Aspect of the ground. The downscaling process involves the use of a simple geostatistical approach where the model is calibrated by building a relationship between solar radiation and slope/aspect of physiography. The model uses various free satellite datasets and previous research reports to calculate the Global solar irradiation. The model outputs can be used for various studies related to renewable energy and site selection analysis. The solar model is highly valuable for the Islands of the world as it provides the output with high cell resolution Odisha, one of the 28 states of India, has been taken as a case study to run the model.