Mapping and estimating Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) resources in Côte d'Ivoire

This study estimates Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) and the production potential of monocrystalline photovoltaic (PV) cells at different spatial and temporal scales in Côte d'Ivoire. It assesses, for different GHI classes, the probability of occurrence of hours of sunshine, the number of hours of persistence and the maximum number of consecutive hours of daily persistence. The study was conducted using the HelioClim-3 satellite database for GHI, MERRA-2 for temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity and ERA5 for cloud cover over the period 2011-2021 in Ivory Coast. This study highlights areas and seasons with high GHI intensity and most productive PV energy. The results show that the maximum GHI values are observed in the northwest of Côte d’Ivoire, more precisely in the district of Denguélé, with an annual average value of 5.62 kWh/m²/day. The Minignan and Boundiali sites have abundant GHI resources ranging from 4 to over 6 kWh/m²/day. The study also reveals that the number of hours of GHI above 500 W.m -2 is around 7 hours per day and is also located in the northwest with maxima in the Denguélé district. In addition, the maximum number of consecutive hours of daily sunshine for a GHI greater than 500 W.m -2 varies from more than one hour to nearly six hours depending on the month and location. The winter season (December-January-February) and the spring season (March-April-May) are the seasons with the highest solar potential. In contrast, the summer season (June-July-August) has the highest cloud cover (between 57% and 91%) associated with low GHI. The maximum, minimum and average values for the production potential of monocrystalline PV cells in Côte d'Ivoire are 5.45 kWh/kWp, over 3.86 kWh/kWp and 4.58 kWh/kWp respectively. The months of November to May record the highest values for PV production in Côte d'Ivoire.