An ab Initio Study on Solar Geometry and Potential for N-E India

In north-east (N-E) India, there is severe power shortage and associated power quality problems; the quality of grid supply in most of the places is characterized by large voltage and frequency fluctuations, scheduled and unscheduled power cuts and load restrictions. Load shedding due to power shortage and faults in many cities in N-E India is a major problem for which there is no immediate remedy in near future since the gap between power demand and supply is increasing every year. But this region being rich in sun shine, solar energy is available all over the year at free of cost. In order to harness solar energy, it is important to know the amount of solar radiation available at a given location at a given time. Knowledge of solar radiation requires information about many parameters. This paper tries to analyze the solar geometry and potential of the region and presents various parameters for evaluation of solar resource as a promising option for power generation in N-E India.