Markov modeling of solar radiation and storage sizing

Abstract

Solar systems are highly penetrating into the electrical networks all over the world currently. Solar radiation is not steady and never will be, and so, a storage system is required to ensure a stable and continuous supply. To increase the reliability of the system whether islanded or network connected, it is better to have a storage system. After all, the decision of whether to use a storage system or not, and whether to use a big storage size or not is a matter of an economical decision. In this paper, the focus will be on designing a Markov model for the solar radiation and from that, techniques will be applied to specify the best sizing of the storage. Thus, the optimal sizing of the needed storage will be specified using three different techniques. The case study will be applied on two cities: Makkah (Kaaba), Saudi Arabia, and Dhahran (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia.