Purpose This paper aims to propose an approach based on physical model integration for surface and cloud albedo computation using an approximate form of the atmospheric radiative transfer equation and sun-pixel-satellite. Design/methodology/approach The data used in this study are global irradiance collected from for various sites in Algeria, and data were obtained from the processing of the high-resolution visible images taken by the Meteosat Second Generation satellite in 2010. Findings The results suggest that the standard deviation obtained with this method is similar to that obtained with current estimation methods. The hourly and daily correlation coefficients range between 0.95 and 0.97 and between 0.97 and 0.99, respectively. The hourly and daily mean bias errors range between −0.2 and +1.2 per cent and between −0.2 and +1.4 per cent, respectively. The hourly and daily root mean square errors range between 10 and 17 per cent and between 4 and 8 per cent, respectively. Originality/value This paper developed a new estimating method that derives the hourly global horizontal solar irradiation at a ground level from geostationary satellite data under local climate conditions.