Irradiance separation model parameter estimation from historical cloud cover statistical properties

Irradiance separation models allow the decomposition of Global Horizontal Irradiance into Diffuse Horizontal and Direct Normal Irradiances. These models need fitting to the irradiance characteristics of the location of interest using locally measured ground data. For locations that only measure Global Horizontal Irradiance, current state of the art establishes the use of parameters obtained for another location that measures the three components, with similar climate characteristics. Nevertheless, this results in a lack of localized character for estimates and requires fitting model parameters for all possible climates, which can be infeasible given data availability. This work presents a novel approach based on the hypothesis that the separation model's parameters are a function of the statistical properties of satellite-derived cloud cover estimates. The proposed methodology was evaluated in 23 sites covering all main Köppen-Geiger climatic types and different cloud coverage properties using the Boland-Ridley-Lauret diffuse fraction model. The model performs similarly as locally adjusting the model, with Root Mean Square Errors of 0.087–0.15 diffuse fraction units versus 0.077–0.127 for locally optimized parameters, and offers adequate performance across climates and cloud characteristics. These results encourage future research by generalizing parameter estimation for other diffuse fraction models. The main applications for this research are the estimation of irradiance components where no local data is available for model fitting and the enhancement or complementarity of satellite estimates of surface irradiance. Furthermore, it allows the estimation of missing irradiance components due to equipment failure in locations with insufficient data for a representative, locally adapted model.