Solar
By
WORLD BANK
The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, collectively The World Bank Group, have provided this Global Solar Atlas in addition to a series of global, regional and country GIS data layers and poster maps, to support the scale-up of solar power in our client countries. This work is funded by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), a multi-donor trust fund administered by The World Bank and supported by 13 official bilateral donors. It is part of a global ESMAP initiative on Renewable Energy Resource Mapping that includes biomass, small hydro, solar and wind.
The primary aim of this Global Solar Atlas is to provide quick and easy access to solar resource and photovoltaic power potential data globally, at a click of a mouse. GIS layers and poster maps showing global, regional, and country resource potential can be found in the Download section. Further description of the data provided, the methodology for estimating solar resource potential, and guidance on how to use it, can be found in the Knowledge Base section.
Ground imagery from satellite and city maps helps identify potential areas of interest. Main roads, railways, and transmission line networks help define the accessibility and feasibility of sites for the location of power plants. Different map layers can be selected: photovoltaic electricity output (PVOUT), global horizontal irradiation (GHI), direct normal irradiation (DNI), diffuse horizontal irradiation (DIF), global tilted irradiation for fixed systems at optimum angle (GTI), optimum angle of PV modules (OPTA), temperature (TEMP), elevation (TERRAIN), satellite view (SATELLITE) and information on roads and streets (NORMAL). The World Bank Group is exploring opportunities to improve and disseminate data on power transmission lines.
Solar resource availability determines how much electricity will be generated and in what time. Analysis of the averaged solar radiation components for specific locations helps with planning and pre-evaluation of opportunities for solar energy projects. Data provided by Solargis represent a modeling approach, based on the use of modern and verified solar algorithms. The model offers long and continuous history and systematic update of primary solar resource parameters (GHI, DNI) as well as all derived parameters and data products needed by solar energy industry (GTI, PVOUT).