THE MAP OF SOLAR RADIATION FOR FIVE MUNICIPALITIES LOCATED IN THE SOUTHEASTERN AND EASTERN PART OF THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA

Abstract

The world’s transition process to renewable energy sources emerged as its commitment to limit global warming, mainly caused by the greenhouse gas emissions. Solar energy drives most of the processes on the planet, and it can be directly converted into electricity by using photovoltaic technologies. This way of electricity generation proves to be one of the most promising in the achieving the aforementioned goal. Among all renewables, Bosnia and Herzegovina mostly exploits hydropower, whereas its solar potential is almost untouched. In this paper, we produce the map of solar radiation for five municipalities located in the southeastern and eastern part of the Republic of Srpska. The map is obtained by using the Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS) database. For selected towns, we present average daily irradiation, average monthly and yearly global horizontal irradiation, direct normal irradiation, global irradiation at optimum angle as well as diffuse to global ratio and average temperature. Besides, we give estimates of electricity that could be generated by solar power plants of 5 kWp nominal power, installed on the rooftops of households or buildings. These estimates may guide householders in their decisions to harvest solar energy as independent energy producers.