need help

[vandan]

Hi i am a student. I am doing project of irrigation using solar energy. I have selected site of Meerut. which is in Uttar Pradesh state of country INDIA. The problem is i dont have enough data to calculate solar radiation. Can anybody know what is the clearness Index Kt in Meerut.

[reality]

I don't have the information myself but these people did a study whereby they gained the information from a local observatory. The webpage has an email address you could try.

[Jim Franklin]

Vandan, you should also know that PV cells lose efficiency as they heat up. The higher the ambiant air temperature, the lower the efficiency of the cells. Also the physical temperature of the cells has a direct bearing on the efficiency. This is information that you should gather when deciding on the type of cell to use and the location for the cells.

Some Cell types are effected more than others by Ultra-violet radiation too, this also needs to be accounted for when locating cells in areas susceptable to elevated UV exposure.

[the nature scene]

Interesting... I am doing a very similar project for one of my classes. My country is Israel though.

Jim,

While energy efficiency is something to be considered, the main driving factor in these types of decisions is economic efficiency. No energy source is 100% efficient by engineering standards. What matters to the decision makers are the costs and benfits of a project.

[Series2]

There's an introduction to PV Basics at the Solar Electric Power Association.

Question 1 addresses efficiency vs. temperature.

[freefuelforever]

Oh, there is a program you can link to, from the Canadian government, that has a worldwide database of weather. You input where you are, your demands, the panels you are using, etc and it gives you the size required. Now, I am using it for solar water heating, but they have it for electricity as well. It is linked here: (it runs under MS excel) It gives you the 12 months of insolation when you put in your location on one page, if that is all you want, but it does a lot more, too.

http://www.freefuelforever.com/index_files/Page701.htm
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