Broad scale alternative 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 resource maps. Such information has proven useful for planning of power system diversification and reliability. The regional level assessment and mapping of solar energy is based on physical modeling of solar radiation flow combined with GIS-based spatial modeling of climatology. A solar energy model developed for regional level assessment was used to create the maps of solar energy resources for the provinces of Nova Scotia and Ontario. 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 us to predict solar radiation accurately, not only in the immediate vicinity of the weather stations, but at any geographical location in the province.


Solar Energy Resource in Atlantic Canada