Assessment of Long-term Solar Radiation for Energy Exploitation in East-Jerusalem, Palestine

Assessment of solar radiation is helpful for engineers concerning the solar energy systems and energy efficiency who can therefore take knowledge of solar radiation levels at a site. This work aims to characterize global solar radiation, meteorological variables and derived solar parameters measured in Jerusalem-Palestine, covering the period 2014-2023. Hourly global solar radiation was investigated into monthly, seasonal, and annually variations of clearness index (Kt). The frequency distribution of hourly Kt show a minimum value of 0.21 to a maximum value 0.8 throughout the entire study period. 75% and 33% of hourly (0.65 < Kt < 0.75) values are in summer and winter months, respectively, indicating partially cloudy to more clear sky conditions in Jerusalem. Moreover, Kt is a strong indicator of solar radiation at the study site. During June, daily global radiation value is 28.68 MJ/m², while December value found to be 8.56 MJ/m². The total number of sunshine duration hours ranged between 2755 and 3153, with the lowest recorded in December. Based on the results obtained, Jerusalem is appropriate to harvest solar energy. Further studies could be done to compare ground measurements with satellite observations to improve the spatial distribution of solar radiation in Palestine, particularly in regions where no measurements exist.