Implicit meteorological parameter-based empirical models for estimating back temperature solar modules under varying tilt-angles in Lagos, Nigeria

In this study, measured back temperature of solar modules tilted at angles 6.7 degrees, 16.8 degrees, 26.8 degrees and 0 degrees respectively were used to develop requisite models for estimating this entity for solar modules used in Lagos (Latitude 6.6080 degrees N and Longitude 3.6218 degrees E) Nigeria. Overall solar radiation received by the solar modules showed an appreciable energy gain of 8.74%, 20.85% and 19.49% respectively over that generated by the horizontally placed module. A thorough statistical performance analysis of the obtained data yielded twelve models for each of the solar modules, a total of forty-eight models in all. These models were tested to know which that gave the most accurate regression model for estimating the back temperature in the environment. Application of statistical indicators such as MBE, MPE, RMSE, RRMSE, R-2 and GPI showed that model 8 for the module tilted at 16.8 degrees registered the most performance followed by model 19 for module tilted at 6.7 degrees, model 28 for module tilted at 26.8 degrees and lastly, model 44 for module oriented at 0 degrees. Similar analysis carried out on the established models for the four modules in comparison with existing models, showed that model 44 performed excellently in terms of accuracy compared to other models. Crown Copyright (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.