Solar Resource, NSRDB PSM Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) - North American Cooperation on Energy Information

Average of the hourly Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) over 17 years (1998-2014). Data extracted from the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) developed using the Physical Solar Model (PSM) by National Renewable Energy Laboratory ("NREL"), Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE").

The current version of the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) (v2.0.1) was developed using the Physical Solar Model (PSM), and offers users the solar resource datasets from 1998 to 2014). The NSRDB comprises 30-minute solar and meteorological data for approximately 2 million 0.038-degree latitude by 0.038-degree longitude surface pixels (nominally 4 km2). The area covered is bordered by longitudes 25° W on the east and 175° W on the west, and by latitudes -20° S on the south and 60° N on the north. The solar radiation values represent the resource available to solar energy systems. The AVHRR Pathfinder Atmospheres-Extended (PATMOS-x) model uses half-hourly radiance images in visible and infrared channels from the GOES series of geostationary weather satellites, a climatological albedo database and mixing ratio, temperature and pressure profiles from Modern Era-Retrospective Analysis (MERRA) to generate cloud masking and cloud properties. Cloud properties generated using PATMOS-x are used in fast radiative transfer models along with aerosol optical depth (AOD) and precipitable water vapor (PWV) from ancillary sources to estimate Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) and Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI). A daily AOD is retrieved by combining information from the MODIS and MISR satellites and ground-based AERONET stations. Water vapor and other inputs are obtained from MERRA. For clear sky scenes the direct normal irradiance (DNI) and GHI are computed using the REST2 radiative transfer model. For cloud scenes identified by the cloud mask, Fast All-sky Radiation Model for Solar applications (FARMS) is used to compute the GHI. The DNI for cloud scenes is then computed using the DISC model. The data in this layer is an average of the hourly GHI over 17 years (1998-2014).

NOTE: The Geographical Information System (GIS) data and maps for solar resources for Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) and Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) were developed by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and provided for Canada as an estimate. At present, neither the NREL data, nor the Physical Solar Model (PSM) on which the NREL data is based, have been either assessed or validated for the particular Canadian weather applications. A Canadian GHI map developed by the department of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is based on the State University of New York (SUNY) model and has been assessed and validated for the particular Canadian weather applications. The Canadian GHI map is available at http://atlas.gc.ca/cerp-rpep/en/.