Solar Energy Potential Assessment in Madurai City, India

Article history: Received 26 December 2018 Accepted 19 January 2019 Available online 11 February 2019 Knowledge on solar radiation incident on horizontal or inclined surfaces is required for any solar energy application. This knowledge is useful for designing and performance evaluation of both solar thermal and photovoltaic systems. This study seeks to provide reliable information on the availability of solar energy resource in Madurai and to assess the potential of solar water heating and photovoltaic systems in the four zones of Madurai city. In this connection, solar radiation was continuously monitored at the four zones for a period of one year. From the study it is found that Madurai receives global solar radiation in the range of 3.37 – 6.25 kW/m2. The analysis showed that global solar radiation is available in surplus throughout the year in all four zones of the city and that the city is ideally suited for harvesting solar energy. The potential of solar water heating in the domestic sector of Madurai city was assessed in the study. During the survey, the total roof area of the sample respondents in the four zones was calculated and was found to be 41,235 m2. It was estimated that 4,123 systems of capacity 100 litres per day (lpd) could be installed on rooftops to meet the hot water demands of the population and could save upto 6.18 GW of electricity annually. The potential of solar photovoltaics was also analysed. It was found that there is an enormous potential for installing 3.61 MW photovoltaic system in the total available roof area of the sample households under study.