theoriginoftheasymmetricirradiationdistributionathigh（ theoriginoftheasymmetricirradiationdistributionathigh）.docVIP

Paper presented at North Sun’99, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, August 11-14, 1999 THE ORIGIN OF THE ASYMMETRY IN THE IRRADIATION DISTRIBUTION AT HIGH LATITUDES Mats R?nnelid Solar Energy Research Center, EKOS, H?gskolan Dalarna, S-781 88 Borl?nge, Sweden, phone +46 23 778712, fax +46 23 778701, email: mrd@du.se Abstract The possibility of using solar energy during winter depends on the available solar radiation and on the geometry of the receiving surface. For high latitudes, the annual distribution of the available radiation is characterized by high asymmetry with a large amount of solar radiation from high altitude angles during the summer and a small amount of direct radiation from small altitude angles during the winter. This article deals with the origin of the difference between available solar radiation during summer and winter at high latitudes. Factors like the tilt of the earth’s axis, the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, absorption and scattering of radiation in the atmosphere and seasonal changes in the weather conditions are discussed. Numerical examples of how these factors contribute to the reduction of the winter radiation compared to the summer radiation on surfaces with different orientation in Stockholm, latitude 59.4°N, are given. It is shown that the influence of the atmosphere and seasonal changes in the climate, and not pure earth-sun geometry, are the main reasons why it is hard to utilize solar energy at high latitudes during the winter. 1. Introduction This paper deals with the question of why we have so little output from solar energy devices, such as solar collectors or solar cells, during the winter compared with the summer at high latitudes. At low- to mid-latitude sites, purely geometrical aspects such as the earth-sun geometry are most important for understanding the performance of different solar energy technologies. However, the large solar zenith angles at high latitudes imply a considerable influence by the