Measurement of direct solar radiation has been shown to be very useful to improve control performance and disturbance rejection in solar fields by anticipating the effect of sudden changes in solar radiation due to clouds. Since direct solar radiation is measured locally by pyrheliometers, important errors in the estimation of the overall effective solar radiation can be produced when the pyrheliometer is covered by clouds while the rest of the solar field is not or viceversa. Furthermore, estimation of the overall efficiency affected by the reflectivity and absortance of metal tubes is very difficult because only local measurements can be obtained. This work proposes an algorithm for estimating overall solar radiation and efficiency at the field. The algorithm uses an unscented Kalman filter and it is validated by data obtained at the Plataforma Solar of Almeria (Spain). (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.