PVGIS energy and weather statistics for South and Central America region

PVGIS version 5.2 post processing info

Select a location on the map to access post-processed statistics, and use the menu to select another continent. Data from PVGIS version 5.2 is used for an estimate of PV solar panel yield, normalized to kWh/KWpeak. This for different solar panel orientations, including an estimate of the optimal inclination angle for a specific orientation.

Acknowledgement: many thanks to the PVGIS team for open access to PVGIS 5.2 PVcalc tool. Source - "Photovoltaic Geographic Information System (PVGIS)", European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC). Online tool available at re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis.html - PVGIS Ⓒ European Communities, 2001-2023.

Methods: in this work, monthly data for various solar panel orientations is combined. An explanation of PVGIS data sources and calculation methods is available in [1]. Papers [2][3][4][5] provide additional background on the PVGIS methods and references [6][7][8][9] detail the used solar radiation models. In this work we use the proposed (default) solar radiation model per region of PVGIS and we use city names to refer to specific coordinates on the world map. Ocean locations are not modelled in the PVGIS tool, hence we limit ourselves to the land mass of the planet. Both free standing and building integrated (rooftop) solar panels are simulated, with a slope of 0 a horizontal panel and a slope of 90 degrees a vertical oriented panel, for example to mount on a wall. The used PVcalc simulation does not take into account detailed local shadowing effects. Also the invertor is not modelled in detail, and grid saturation is not taken into account as well as dirt on the panels. All these aspects can decrease the effective yield of the PV solar panels. A limitation of PVGIS5.2 is that the optimal inclination of a solar panel is not correctly computed for building integrated solar panels facing west.

References:

[1]

Overview of PVGIS data sources and calculation methods.

joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/pvgis-photovoltaic-geographical-information-system/getting-started-pvgis/pvgis-data-sources-calculation-methods_en

[2]

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

doi: 10.1016/j.solener.2012.03.006

[3]

Gracia Amillo, A.; Huld, T.; Müller, R. A New Database of Global and Direct Solar Radiation Using the Eastern Meteosat Satellite, Models and Validation. Remote Sensing 2014, 6, 8165-8189.

doi:10.3390/rs6098165

[4]

Huld, T.; Gracia Amillo, A. Estimating PV Module Performance over Large Geographical Regions: the role of Irradiance, Air Temperature, Wind Speed and Solar Spectrum. Energies 2015, 8, 6, 5159-5181.

doi:10.3390/en8065159

[5]

A.M. Gracia Amillo, N. Taylor, A.M. Martinez, E.D. Dunlop, P. Mavrogiorgios, F. Fahl, G. Arcaro, I. Pinedo (2021): Adapting PVGIS to Trends in Climate, Technology and User Needs, Proc. 38th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, p. 907-911

doi:10.4229/EUPVSEC20212021-5BO.6.1

[6]

Müller, Richard; Pfeifroth, Uwe; Träger-Chatterjee, Christine; Cremer, Roswitha; Trentmann, Jörg; Hollmann, Rainer (2015): Surface Solar Radiation Data Set - Heliosat (SARAH) - Edition 1, Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring.

doi: 10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/SARAH/V001

[7]

Pfeifroth, Uwe; Kothe, Steffen; Trentmann, Jörg; Hollmann, Rainer; Fuchs, Petra; Kaiser, Johannes; Werscheck, Martin (2019): Surface Radiation Data Set - Heliosat (SARAH) - Edition 2.1, Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring

doi: 10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/SARAH/V002_01

[8]

Hersbach, H, Bell, B, Berrisford, P, et al. The ERA5 global reanalysis. Q J R Meteorol Soc. 2020; 146: 1999– 2049.

doi: 10.1002/qj.3803

[9]

Manajit Sengupta, Yu Xie, Anthony Lopez, Aron Habte, Galen Maclaurin, James Shelby, The National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB), Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 89, 2018, Pages 51-60.

doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2018.03.003

Additional PVGIS publications are available at: ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/PVGIS/about/who.