This study was aimed at utilizing the monthly mean values of global solar radiation, sunshine hours, rainfall, wind speed, atmospheric pressure and cloud cover to develop an empirical equation for estimation global solar radiation on a horizontal surface for Awka (6.2 °N, 7.0^°E) for nine year period (2005 – 2013). The regression constants were obtained using regression analysis and the predicted values of global solar radiation calculated. The measured values of global solar radiation were compared with the predicted using different models. The result showed that the deviations were minimal. Validation of the results was tested using MBE, RMSE and MPE. The values of R and R2 were also determined for each model. Of all these meteorological parameters: sunshine hours, rainfall, wind speed, atmospheric pressure and cloud cover used in this study only sunshine hours was found to have a direct correlation with global solar radiation. Result obtained show that all the models except model 4 were in good agreement with the measured global solar radiation considering their MBE, RMSE and MPE values. However, considering the RMSE, models 5 and 6 gave better predictions of R which indicate that about 94.8% of variation in the monthly mean solar radiation on a horizontal surface can be accounted for by the models. Therefore, either model 5 or model 6 can be used for predicting global solar radiation for Awka and other locations with similar climate conditions.
Solar radiation, sunshine hours, wind speed and root mean square error
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