Calculating and Comparing Solar Radiation Results Using GIS in the City Sarajevo Area

Citizens of the city of Sarajevo and of other industrial cities are faced with a record number of days of increased pollution. In the winter months, the city of Sarajevo faces a large number of days of pollution caused mainly by the use of fossil fuels in individual houses for heating purposes. The current situation can be changed by the massive use of energy from renewable sources such as solar energy. This paper aims to evaluate the potential of solar energy in the city of Sarajevo. The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) represents the most significant technological and conceptual approach to spatial data analysis. Using existing models for calculating incoming solar radiation integrated in the GRASS GIS and SAGA GIS software, we achieved the goal and calculated the results for solar energy potential in the city of Sarajevo and presented them for the specific settlements. The model was implemented on the basis of created Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from Google Earth – free datasets, using techniques to collect and convert data with different software. Comparative results of selected model research are evaluated using the collected solar irradiance values from the meteorological stations, other research results, and the solar energy potential estimated via the Photovoltaic GIS Information System (PVGIS).