Important

The data in this section are free for public use. Information about the calculation methods can be found here. The use of these data is authorised, if the source is acknowledged.

PVGIS © European Communities, 2001-2021

In your publications, please cite this reference:

Huld, T., Müller, R. and Gambardella, A., 2012. "A new solar radiation database for estimating PV performance in Europe and Africa". Solar Energy, 86, 1803-1815.

Spreadsheet data

Solar radiation and PV potential summary for fixed-mounted PV systems at the level of EU Member States and other European countries are available in spreadsheet format. There are two different versions available:

• Calculations based on the original "classic" PVGIS data set using ground station measurements and interpolation. The spreadsheet contains values for the EU member states and other European countries.
• Calculations based on a mixture of the original "classic" PVGIS data set using ground station measurements and the new satellite-based CMSAF data set, which is used for areas south of 58°N. The spreadsheet contains values for the EU member states and other European countries.

GIS data

These are raster data that can be used in a Geographical Information System (GIS) software. The data represent long-term yearly and monthly averages of selected climatic parameters.

Solar radiation data:

The solar radiation data we make available here are long-term averages for each month and for the year, based on data with hourly time resolution from satellite. In all cases, the original data are freely available from the organizations that have produced the data sets.

Three different data sets are available for solar radiation:

• Data from the CM SAF "SARAH-Edition 2" solar radiation data product. These data was incorporated in PVGIS version 5.2. The time period used to calculate the averages is 2005-2020. 
• Data from the CM SAF operational solar radiation data product. These data have been used already in PVGIS version 4. The time period used to calculate the long-term averages is 2007-2016.
• Data from the CM SAF "SARAH" solar radiation data product. In PVGIS 4 these data were used to provide solar radiation data for Asia. The time period used to calculate the long-term averages is 2005-2016.
• Data from the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB). The time period used to calculate the long-term averages is 2005-2015.