The PVGIS-SARAH2 solar radiation data made available here have been derived based on the second version of the SARAH solar radiation data record provided by the EUMETSAT Climate Monitoring Satellite Application Facility (CM SAF). PVGIS-SARAHs uses the images of the METEOSAT geostationary satellites covering Europe, Africa and Asia (±65° longitude and ±65° latitude). More information can be found in Gracia Amillo et al., 2021. The data available here are only long-term averages, calculated from hourly global and diffuse irradiance values over the period 2005-2020.
Areas not covered by SARAH-2 are filled out with data from ERA5.
Metadata
All the data sets in this section have these properties:
- Format: GeoTIFF
- Map projection: geographic (latitude/longitude), ellipsoid WGS84
- Grid cell size: 3' (0.05°) for SARAH-2 and 0.25° for ERA5.
- North: 72° N
- South: 37° S
- West: 20° W
- East: 63,05° E
- Rows: 2180 cells
- Columns: 1661 cells
- Missing value: -9999
Solar radiation data sets consist of the average irradiance over the time period in question, taking into account both day and night-time, measured in W/m2. Optimum angle data sets are measured in degrees from horizontal for a plane facing the equator (south-facing in the northern hemisphere and vice-versa).
Available data sets
- Monthly global irradiance on a horizontal surface (kWh/m2), period 2005-2020
- Yearly average of annual global irradiance on a horizontal surface (kWh/m2), period 2005-2020
- Monthly global irradiance on an optimally inclined surface (kWh/m2), period 2005-2020
- Yearly average of annual global irradiance on an optimally inclined surface (kWh/m2), period 2005-2020
- Monthly global irradiance on a two-axis sun-tracking surface (kWh/m2), period 2005-2020
- Yearly average of annual global irradiance on a two-axis sun-tracking surface (kWh/m2), period 2005-2020
- Optimal inclination angle for an equator-facing plane (degrees), period 2005-2020
References
- Gracia Amillo, A.M.; Taylor, N; Martinez A.M.; Dunlop E.D.; Mavrogiorgios P.; Fahl F.; Arcaro G.; Pinedo I. Adapting PVGIS to Trends in Climate, Technology and User Needs. 38th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (PVSEC), 2021, 907 - 911.