Internal Review Draft

Assessment of Solar Resources in the

Philippines

Task 7Bb Report

Philippine Renewable Energy Project

Prepared and Submitted by:

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Under Contract with the US Agency for International
Development
October, 2000

Assessment of Solar Resources for the Philippines

Dave Renn
Pamela Gray-Hann
Ray George
Liz Brady

1. Introduction
Accurate solar resource data is important for the proper sizing and life cycle cost analysis
of solar photovoltaic technologies. Knowledge of the spatial distribution of the solar
resource for various tilt angles will allow for more cost effective design and operation of
photovoltaic systems for meeting small, distributed loads. The goal of this task is to
develop a solar assessment for the Philippines that incorporates and builds upon current
understanding of the spatial distribution of the resource. This assessment provides data
that developers and investors can use to help establish successful business activity in offgrid solar technologies in the Philippines.
Although solar resource assessments have been conducted for the Philippines, these
generally make use of ground-based measurements of the daily total number of hours of
sunshine duration. The updated assessment provided here combines existing ground
measurement data collected in the Philippines with the output of NRELs Climatological
Solar Radiation (CSR) Model. This model converts information on satellite- and surfacederived cloud cover data collected at a 40-km spatial resolution to estimates of the
monthly average daily total global horizontal solar resource. This spatial resolution is
generally much higher than the spacing of ground stations, and therefore allows for a
more detailed analysis of the effects of microclimate variability on the solar resource, and
provides a more accurate interpolation of the solar resource between ground stations.

2. Overview of Existing Solar Data in the Philippines

2.1 PAGASA Solar Lab
Data files in electronic format were acquired from the PAGASA Solar Lab during April,
1999. The data acquired are as follows:
Sunshine duration data for the following cities and dates:
Baguio City (#328), 1970-1983, 1984-1998.
Quezon (Science Garden) (#430), 1970-1987, 1988-1998.
Tacloban (#550), 1971-1988, 1995 (missing: July, August 1986, all months for 19891991).
Cagayan de Oro (#748), 1982-1995 (missing: April, May 1985; Sept. 1986; Feb. 1988;
July 1989).

Puerto Princesa (#618), 1984-1997 (missing: January 1985, April, May 1988).
Tuquegarao (#233), 1975-1997 (missing: Feb., May Dec. 1985, all months for 19861987, Jan. Aug. 1988, Feb. 1991).
Catarman (#546), 1970-1986, 1987-1995
Laoag (#223), 1970-1985, 1986-1995 (missing: March, April 1985; May August
1988).
Victoria's Milling Corporation (#618c), 1971-1982, 1983-1995 (missing: Sept., Oct.
1987; Jan. 1988, April, May, 1991).
Global Horizontal data for the following cities and dates:
Victoria's Milling Corporation, 1984-1995
Quezon, 1972-1989, 1994-1996 (also known as Science Garden)
Each of the stations (except Catarman, Baguio, and Cagayan de Oro) with the sunshine
recorder data also have global horizontal measurements, either collected with a bimettalic
strip device (Laoag and Tacloban) or with a pyranometer (the four remaining stations).
However, these data were not included with the electronic data, and were not available
for this study.
The list of PAGASA solar radiation stations that provided by PAGASA shows many
additional stations with global horizontal measurements, using pyranometers. These
stations are:
Basco
Echague, Isabela
La Trinidad, Benguet
Casiguran, Quezon
Munoz, Nueva Ecija
Iba, Zabales
Infanta, Quezon
UPLB College, Laguna
Daet, Camarines Norte
Pili, Camarines Sur
San Francisco, Quezon
Romblon
San Jose, Mindoro Occ.
Catbalogan
Iloilo Airport
Baybay, Leyte
La Carlota City
Surigao
Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur
Marawi City
Tagum, Davao (Twin Rivers)
However, data in electronic format for these stations are not available from the Solar Lab.

2.2 Report: The Profile of Solar Insolation in the Philippines

The report The Profile of Solar Insolation in the Philippines provides tables and maps
of monthly average global horizontal solar resource data based on stations with actual
solar measurements as well as stations that have only sunshine recorders or cloud cover
observations. For the latter types of stations, empirical techniques such as a modification
of the Angstrom relation were used to develop solar resource estimates. The report
shows 17 stations with some form of solar measurement (Kahlisco pyranometer, Licor
Pyranometer, or other such as bimetallic strip recorder), where data collected in the early
1980s are used. Seven of these stations also have sunshine recorders, which allows for
the development of the Angstrom coefficients. Data for 65 stations where sunshine
recorders or cloud cover observations are made are also provided.

2.3 UMASS/Lowell Data Report

In 1991 the University of Lowell Photovoltaic Program developed an international solar
radiation data base, providing monthly average daily total solar radiation data for
numerous stations around the world. Most of the data were derived from sunshine
recorders. The report shows a total of fifteen stations for the Philippines.

2.4 World Radiation Data Center Archive of Science Garden Data

An archive of measured solar data from around the world is mainatained at the World
Radiation Data Center in St. Petersburg, Russia. Much of this archive is accessible
through the worldwide web at http://wrdc-mgo.nrel.gov. For the Philippines, only data
from the Science Garden station are available through this archive. Daily values of
global horizontal solar radiation for the period 1964-1993, and diffuse radiation for the
period 1991-1993 can be found on the archive.
2.5 Summary of Data Stations
Figure 1 shows the location of the major solar resource data stations available for this
study. The Figure is divided into two panels. The left hand panel shows the location of
the PAGASA Solar Lab stations for which electronic data are available (although most of
these data are monthly average hours of direct sunlight per day). The right hand panel
shows the location of measurement stations taken from the Profiles report, as well as
the stations used in the Lowell report.

3. Description of the Climatological Solar Radiation Model

The modeling approach that was developed for the production of the U.S. National Solar
Radiation Data Base (NSRDB 1993) was modified to provide large area, high spatial
resolution of solar resources using a global satellite-derived cloud cover data base. The
original model, METSTAT (Maxwell 1998a), calculates atmospheric extinction for clearsky and cloudy conditions using inputs of opaque and translucent cloud cover derived
from ground observations, precipitable water vapor, ozone, and aerosol optical depth.
The output, then, is hourly values of surface direct normal, global horizontal, and diffuse
solar radiation. The METSTAT model was modified to generate monthly average daily
total values of the three elements for each Real-Time Nephanalysis (RTNEPH) grid cell.
The modified model is known as the Climatological Solar Radiation (CSR) model
(Maxwell, George, and Wilcox 1998b). The RTNEPH data use ground-based cloud
cover observations where available (generally, these are three-hourly observations
obtained from national weather services around the world), and Polar Orbiting
Environmental Satellite imagery to interpolate between the stations. Although the worldwide RTNEPH data are available on a three-hourly basis for a period beginning 1
August, 1983, the version of the data used in the CSR model is a histogram data base
covering the period from 1985 to 1992. The histograms of total cloud cover for hours
between sunrise and sunset were used to determine monthly average total cloud cover
during daytime hours. The histograms for low, middle, and high cloud layers were used
to estimate monthly average opaque cloud cover.
The CSR model has been run for a number of regions around the world, including the
entire east Asia region. The Philippines were included in the east Asia calculations, and
the results of these calculations form the basis of the modeled assessment provided here.
Preliminary evaluations of the monthly average daily total model output for several
locations around the world show agreement with ground stations between 5 - 15%, with
the best agreement found when compared with U.S. network stations (on which the
model is partly based).

4. Model Results
Figures 2 through 14 provide annual and twelve monthly average daily total global
horizontal solar resource data on a 40-km grid for the Philippines. Each figure (annual or
individual month) also shows the comparison of the data grid value with the
corresponding surface value for Science Garden and Victorias Milling Corporation. An
example of how a regional map would look is shown in Figure 15 for northern Luzon.
The Philippines climate is characterized as monsoonal. Figure 16 is used to show how
the solar resource varies between the dry season (March May)) and the wet season
(November - January).
5. Comparison with Existing Ground Data

It was noted in Figures 2 through 14 that two ground stations are available with which to
compare the CSR model data grid values. Here, in Figures 17-18, we see profiles of the
monthly values comparing the ground station with the corresponding CSR model data
grid value. The figures show that, particularly at Science Garden, the CSR model tends
to produce slightly higher values than the ground observation. However, it is important
to note that the data grid represents the average resource over a 1600 km2, while the
ground station is a point value, which could be valid throughout some portions of the
area.
6. Summary and Conclusions
The results of this analysis shows that the CSR model output provides results that are
comparable to values obtained from surface stations. However, the CSR model is
capable of providing higher resolution data than the ground network. Nevertheless, the
spatial variation of the solar resource across the Philippines in any given month is low
(approximately 10% to 20%), while the variation between the wet and dry seasons is
quite high (30% to 50%).
7. References
Maxwell E. L., METSTATthe solar radiation model used in the production of the
National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB). Solar Energy 62, 4, 263-279, (1998a).
Maxwell, Eugene L., Raymond L. George, and Stephen M. Wilcox, A Climatological
Solar Radiation Model, Proceedings of the 1998 Annual Conference, American Solar
Energy Society, Albuquerque, pp. 505-510, June 14-17, (1998b).
University of Lowell Photovoltaic Program, 1991: International Solar Irradiation
Database, Version 1.0. University of Lowell Research Foundation, 450 Aitken Street,
Lowell, Massachusetts, 01854, USA.
Bonjoc, Manuel C., Rodito D. Buan, and Victor Leano: The Profile of Solar Insolation in
the Philippines. Pp. 185-260.

Victorias, Negros, Occ., #618C

Comparison of CSR Model Values with Measured Data
(1985 to 1991)
12.0
10.0

CSR

6.0

Measured

4.0
2.0

December

November

October

September

August

July

June

May

April

March

February

0.0
January

kWh/m2/day

8.0

Science Garden, #430

Comparison of CSR Model Values with Measured Data
(1985 to 1991)
12.0
10.0

CSR

6.0

Measured

4.0
2.0

December

November

October

September

August

July

June

May

April

March

February

0.0
January

kWh/m2/day

8.0