A solar energy resources assessment in Mozambique

Just as with other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, Mozambique faces severe, interrelated problems of energy and environment linked, with massive consumption of fuel wood biomass. The conventional power grid provides less than 7% of the energy needs for the country’s 17 million inhabitants, and about 83% of the energy consumed in the country comes from biomass. Renewable energy resources can play an important role in the process of development of the country. From the vast renewable energy resources available in the country, solar energy represents one of those with the highest potential. Thus, the evaluation of the potential of solar energy systems in small-scale applications suitable for villages is a strategically good starting point for promotion of sustainable rural development. One of the major impediments in carrying out such studies is the fact that the exact behaviour of solar energy resources throughout the country has not been well studied. In this paper a general characterisation of the global, diffuse and direct solar radiation fields in Mozambique is presented. The study is based on experimental data measured by the National Institute of Meteorology (INAM) in the period 1970- 2000. For these analyses global, diffuse and direct solar radiation data from three stations along the coast line and three stations in the interior of the country have been used. The six stations were representative of the three main regions of the country, namely south, centre and north. Furthermore, sunshine hours data of one selected station was analysed.