Solar Resources by Class and Country
These estimates are derived from the best available solar resource data available to NREL. Resources are organized by class and country. Resolution varies spatially from 1 km to 1 degree (approximately 100 km) depending on the data source. High spatial resolution datasets (1 km to 40 km cells) were modeled to support country or regional projects. Where high resolution datasets were not available, data from NASA?s Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy (SSE) version 6 database were used.
The data represent total potential solar energy per year as a function of land area per solar class (`KWh/m²/day`). Each solar class correlates to a specific `0.5 kWh/m²/day` range. Energy is calculated by multiplying the productive land by the class, conversion efficiency and number of days per year. In this case, a standard calendar year of 365 days was used. The conversion efficiency rate applied was 10%.
`E = Productive Land * kWh/m²/day * 365 days * 10% efficiency`
The solar data has been derived from solar data measured or modeled between 1961 and 2008, depending on the dataset.
Citation Formats
TY - DATA
AB - These estimates are derived from the best available solar resource data available to NREL. Resources are organized by class and country. Resolution varies spatially from 1 km to 1 degree (approximately 100 km) depending on the data source. High spatial resolution datasets (1 km to 40 km cells) were modeled to support country or regional projects. Where high resolution datasets were not available, data from NASA’s Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy (SSE) version 6 database were used.
The data represent total potential solar energy per year as a function of land area per solar class (`KWh/m²/day`). Each solar class correlates to a specific `0.5 kWh/m²/day` range. Energy is calculated by multiplying the productive land by the class, conversion efficiency and number of days per year. In this case, a standard calendar year of 365 days was used. The conversion efficiency rate applied was 10%.
`E = Productive Land * kWh/m²/day * 365 days * 10% efficiency`
The solar data has been derived from solar data measured or modeled between 1961 and 2008, depending on the dataset.
AU - Heimiller, Donna
A2 - Laboratory, National Renewable Energy
DB - Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI)
DP - Open EI | National Renewable Energy Laboratory
DO -
KW - DNI
KW - NASA
KW - NREL
KW - SSE
KW - clean energy
KW - energy
KW - international
KW - lat
KW - resource assessment
KW - solar
KW - solar energy
KW - solar per country
KW - solar potential
KW - solar power
KW - solar resource
KW - tilt
LA - English
DA - 2014/11/25
PY - 2014
PB - National Renewable Energy Laboratory
T1 - Solar Resources by Class and Country
UR - https://data.openei.org/submissions/421
ER -
Heimiller, Donna, and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Solar Resources by Class and Country. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 25 November, 2014, Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). https://data.openei.org/submissions/421.
Heimiller, D., & Laboratory, N. (2014). Solar Resources by Class and Country. [Data set]. Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). National Renewable Energy Laboratory. https://data.openei.org/submissions/421
Heimiller, Donna and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Solar Resources by Class and Country. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, November, 25, 2014. Distributed by Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). https://data.openei.org/submissions/421
@misc{OEDI_Dataset_421,
title = {Solar Resources by Class and Country},
author = {Heimiller, Donna and Laboratory, National Renewable Energy},
abstractNote = {These estimates are derived from the best available solar resource data available to NREL. Resources are organized by class and country. Resolution varies spatially from 1 km to 1 degree (approximately 100 km) depending on the data source. High spatial resolution datasets (1 km to 40 km cells) were modeled to support country or regional projects. Where high resolution datasets were not available, data from NASA?s Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy (SSE) version 6 database were used.
The data represent total potential solar energy per year as a function of land area per solar class (`KWh/m²/day`). Each solar class correlates to a specific `0.5 kWh/m²/day` range. Energy is calculated by multiplying the productive land by the class, conversion efficiency and number of days per year. In this case, a standard calendar year of 365 days was used. The conversion efficiency rate applied was 10\%.
`E = Productive Land * kWh/m²/day * 365 days * 10\% efficiency`
The solar data has been derived from solar data measured or modeled between 1961 and 2008, depending on the dataset.},
url = {https://data.openei.org/submissions/421},
year = {2014},
howpublished = {Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI), National Renewable Energy Laboratory, https://data.openei.org/submissions/421},
note = {Accessed: 2025-05-30}
}
Details
Data from Nov 25, 2014
Last updated Nov 25, 2014
Submitted Nov 25, 2014
Organization
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Contact
Donna Heimiller
