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Photovoltaic Power Potential (PVOUT)

PVOUT map provides a summary of estimated solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation potential. It represents long-term average of yearly/daily potential electricity production from a 1 kW-peak grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant.

The PV system configuration consists of ground-based, free-standing structures with crystalline-silicon PV modules mounted at a fixed position, with optimum tilt to maximize yearly energy yield. Use of high efficiency inverters is assumed. The solar electricity calculation is based on high-resolution solar resource data and PV modeling software provided by Solargis. The calculation takes into account solar radiation, air temperature, and terrain, to simulate the energy conversion and losses in the PV modules and other components of a PV power plant. In the simulation, losses due to dirt and soiling was estimated to be 3.5%. The cumulative effect of other conversion losses (inter-row shading, mismatch, inverters, cables, transformer, etc.) is assumed to be 7.5%. The power plant availability is considered to be 100%.

The underlying solar resource database is calculated from atmospheric and satellite data with a 10-minute, 15-minute and 30-minute time step, and a nominal spatial resolution of 1 km. Air-temperature above ground is postprocessed from ERA5 reanalysis database. The effects of terrain are considered at the spatial resolution of 1 km.

Global Horizontal Irradiation (GHI)

GHI is the most important parameter for energy yield calculation and performance assessment of flat-plate photovoltaic (PV) technologies. This solar resource map provides a summary of the estimated solar energy available for power generation and other energy applications. It represents the long-term average of yearly/daily sum of global horizontal irradiation (GHI). The underlying solar resource database is calculated by the Solargis model from atmospheric and satellite data with 10, 15 or 30-minute time step (depending on the region). The effects of terrain are considered at nominal spatial resolution of 250 m.

There is some uncertainty in the yearly GHI estimate as a result of limited potential for regional model validation due to a lack of high quality ground measurement data, which is estimated to vary regionally from approx. 3% to 10%.

Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI)

DNI is the most important parameter for energy yield calculation and performance assessment of concentrating solar power (CSP) and concentrator solar photovoltaic (CPV) technologies. DNI is also important for the calculation of global irradiation received by tilted or sun-tracking photovoltaic modules. This solar resource map provides a summary of the estimated solar energy available for power generation and other energy applications. It represents the long-term average of yearly/daily sum of direct normal irradiation (DNI). The underlying solar resource database is calculated by the Solargis model from atmospheric and satellite data with 10, 15 or 30-minute time step (depending on the region). The effects of terrain are considered at nominal spatial resolution of 250 m.

There is some uncertainty in the yearly GHI estimate as a result of limited potential for regional model validation due to a lack of high quality ground measurement data, which is estimated to vary regionally from approx. 6% to 15%.

Medium size maps are optimized for on-screen presentation and for A4 or letter printing.

Format

• Loss-less PNG format
• Approximate size 1 to 4 MPix

Purpose

• Slide presentations (PowerPoint, Google Slides, etc.)
• Sharing on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc
• Integration on your web-pages
• PDF reports
• Office document printing (A4 or letter size)

These are high resolution, ready-to-print image files, which you can print in poster-size formats. For printing, we recommend high quality fineart printing on semi-glossy paper. Alternatively, consult your local printing company for other printing options and materials (foam boards, solid boards, stickers, etc.).

Compared to mid-size maps, the map and data detail is much higher. However, the file size is huge, therefore the files are not suitable for slide presentations or office documents.

Format

• Loss-less TIF format in sRGB color spectrum
• Approximate size of 100 MPix (depending on the region/country size)
• Typical optimal print size is approximatelly 1 m sq., for small countries up to 0.75 m sq. The optimal printing size can be shrinked up to 50% without significant readability loss or increased by 30% without significant printing quality loss. For larger or customized formats, please, contact us.

Purpose

• Presentational and educational tool to discover, clarify and compare geo-phenomena influencing solar resource
• Supportive tool to for dedicated teams to analyze, markup and design projects development
• Wall installation: reinforce your visibility or just as an aesthetic complement to your office

GIS data can be used for visualization, further processing, and geo-analysis in all mainstream GIS software with raster data processing capabilities (such as commercial ESRI ArcGIS products, open source QGIS and others).

Format

Solar radiation and other parameters are provided as raster (gridded) data in two formats: GeoTIFF  and AAIGRID (Esri ASCII Grid). Data in both formats is equivalent, you can select one of your preference. Data layers are provided in a geographic spatial reference (EPSG:4326).

Provided data layers include long-term yearly (for PVOUT also monthly) averages of:

• PVOUT – Photovoltaic power potential [kWh/kWp], resolution (pixel size) 30 arcsec (nominally 1 km)
• GHI – Global horizontal irradiation [kWh/m2], resolution (pixel size) 9 arcsec (nominally 250 m)
• DIF – Diffuse horizontal irradiation [kWh/m2], resolution (pixel size) 9 arcsec (nominally 250 m)
• GTI – Global irradiation for optimally tilted surface [kWh/m2], resolution (pixel size) 9 arcsec (nominally 250 m)
• DNI – Direct normal irradiation [kWh/m2], resolution (pixel size) 9 arcsec (nominally 250 m)
• OPTA – Optimum tilt to maximize yearly yield [°], resolution (pixel size) 2 arcmin (nominally 4 km)

Note, that solar paramters might be provided as a calculation of Daily totals or Yearly summaries:

• LTAy_DailyTotals - long-term yearly average of daily totals
• LTAym_YearlyMonthlyTotals - long-term average of yearly or monthly summaries
  Note: Both type of data are equivalent. The relation between datasets is described by simple formula
  LTAy_YearlySum = LTAy_DailySum * 365.25

For some countries/regions, also long-term monthly data has been released for free download (check e.g. Zambia, Malawi, Maldives).

For more information and terms of use, please, read metadata, provided in PDF and XML format for each data layer in a download file.

Purpose

• Regional solar climate analysis
• Preliminary solar resource and PV assesment
• Data for various applications
• Custom maps

Provided only for selected countries and World.

Map data (e.g. PVOUT, GHI, etc) are served as high-resolution images, provided in a format suitable for viewing and analyzing in a desktop version of Google Earth Desktop software. High detail of the maps reveals even very local variability of solar radiation, especially in the areas with complex terrain.

Format

• KML/KMZ file, image tiles in PNG format

Instruction

• UnZIP the provided files and keep in the local folder
• Locate the KML/KMZ file in the main folder and open it in Google Earth Desktop software (desktop version must be installed on your computer)

Provided only for selected countries.

For easy manipulation with GIS data files, selected vector and raster data files are integrated into ready-to-open QGIS project with colour schemes and annotation. QGIS is free and open source geographic information system (GIS) software allowing visualization, query and analysis on the provided data. It also includes a rich toolbox and functionalities to manipulate with data.

Format

• A mesh of data (GIS raster and vector formats), pre-prepared and styled in QGIS project

Instruction

• Unpack the provided ZIP file
• Locate the QGS file and open in QGIS (version 2.14 and higher should be installed on your computer)