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Solar radiation is one of the most important parameters for applications, development and research related to renewable energy. However, solar radiation measurements are not a simple task for several reasons. In the cases where data are not available, it is very common the use of computational models to estimate the missing data, which are based mainly on the search for relationships between weather variables, such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, sunshine hours, etc. But, many of these are subjective and difficult to measure, and thus they are not always available. In this paper, we propose a method for estimating daily global solar radiation, combining empirical models and artificial neural networks. The model uses temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure as the only climatic input variables. Also, this method is compared with linear regression to verify that the data have nonlinear components. The models are adjusted and validated using data from five meteorological stations in the province of Tucumán, Argentina. Results show that neural networks have better accuracy than empirical models and linear regression, obtaining on average, an error of 2.83 [MJ/m 2 ] in the validation dataset.

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The Smart Grids paradigm emerged as a response to the need to modernize the electric grid and address problems related to the demand for better quality energy. However, there are no fully developed and implemented smart grids, but only some minor scale tests to prove the concepts. Centralized systems are still common, with a low granularity of control and reduced monitoring capacity, especially in low-voltage networks. In this work, we propose a framework for Microgrid Management, addressing problems such as determining how to control the energy demand and peak loads, the effect of the energy consumption in the network, and the amount of energy required. We proposed a solution based on autonomous and distributed systems for the following problems: Peak Load addressed with AIN-DSM distributed algorithm, transformer lifespan estimation using a thermal model adjusted by Genetic Algorithms, and Short-Term Load Forecasting based on Artificial Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithms. The distributed paradigm of the Organization Centered Multi-Agent Systems methodology was applied for the framework's modeling and development. The results obtained by using these solutions in the Tucumán province, Argentina, show the system's capabilities and the relevance of the information produced from the framework.