Solar Radiation Measurements in the Adrar Region of Algeria: Radiometric Stations, Statistics, and Comparison with MERRA2 Data

The measurement of incoming solar radiation is crucial to the success of solar energy installations (photovoltaic and thermal), which requires precise and reliable information on the measurements of the different types of solar radiation and could be acquired with continuous operational measurement equipment. In this work, an overview of the solar radiation measurement chain at the URER/MS located in the Adrar region was described and an analysis of solar radiation variation was made with a comparison through the project data MERRA2 from NASA. This study is made on data from a period of 10 years (2010–2020) on the Adrar site, it led to the conclusion that a huge solar potential where the global solar radiation received on a horizontal surface is approximately 6.16 kWh/m2/day with a total cumulative energy of more than 2 Mwh /m2/year. The comparison with MERRA2 data provided an error between 4 and 6% for monthly data and 1.5 to 4% for annual data.