Solar radiation mapping for the south west of Madagascar

Mapping solar radiation is essential for optimum management of solar resources. Drawing up solar maps requires reliable knowledge of the spatial and temporal distribution of solar radiation. For this reason, we have used satellite data (Direct Normal Irrradiance) from 1999 to 2003 from METEOSAT-EAST (SARAH-E). Matlab tools were used to extract and process the raw data from for region of interest wich the Atsimo Andrefana region, Madagascar. The main mathematical model is the descriptive statistics to obtain average hourly, daily, monthly and annual values for the solar irradiance. Interpolation techniques were used to draw up maps, showing the spatial distribution of solar radiation by ArcGIS software. After studying the dispersion trend, we noticed that this region is homogeneous in terms of solar solar potential. Thanks to the correlation study between solar irradiation and time, it was found that temporal variation plays a major role in solar irradiance variation.