Historical Mapping of Solar Energy Resource
Broad scale solar energy resource maps show areas where a particular type of technology is applicable and emphasize limitations or advantages of other types of approaches. Provincial and municipal governments, policy makers, landowners and developers as well as companies interested in the production of energy from renewable energy sources can greatly benefit from solar resource maps. Such information has also proven useful for planning of power system diversification and reliability. The historical mapping of solar energy is based on the Surface meteorology and Solar Energy (SSE) data set - a continuous and consistent 10-year insolation and meteorology data on a 1° x 1° grid system. Many different types of meteorological events that create variations in clouds, water vapor, ozone, winds, etc. cause year-to-year variations in the solar irradiation. The 10-year data period contained 3.5 El Nino years, 2 La Nina years, and 4.5 "near-average" years, thus is representative for long-term climatology of the province.
Solar Radiation originating from the sun travels through the atmosphere, and then is modified by topography and other surface features. To reflect the impact of topography and surface features, landscape-scale insolation variability is assessed using a calculation model of solar radiation that explicitly considers effects of shading caused by obstructions and the altitude-air mass relationship on the available incoming radiation.
Green Power Labs’ SolarGIS toolset was used to create historical maps of solar radiation for the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Our results have a high degree of correspondence with existing weather station data. Due to the spatial correction algorithm, integrated in the model, the map of solar energy resources allows for determining solar radiation accurately, not only in the immediate vicinity of the weather stations, but at any geographical location in the province. They also allow for identifying the spatial patterns and variability of solar radiation data in the areas of interest.
Solar Energy Resource in Atlantic Canada
Solar Radiation originating from the sun travels through the atmosphere, and then is modified by topography and other surface features. To reflect the impact of topography and surface features, landscape-scale insolation variability is assessed using a calculation model of solar radiation that explicitly considers effects of shading caused by obstructions and the altitude-air mass relationship on the available incoming radiation.
Green Power Labs’ SolarGIS toolset was used to create historical maps of solar radiation for the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Our results have a high degree of correspondence with existing weather station data. Due to the spatial correction algorithm, integrated in the model, the map of solar energy resources allows for determining solar radiation accurately, not only in the immediate vicinity of the weather stations, but at any geographical location in the province. They also allow for identifying the spatial patterns and variability of solar radiation data in the areas of interest.
Solar Energy Resource in Atlantic Canada