Assessment of global solar resource development

Abstract

With the increasing severity of environmental problems, many countries have set energy transition targets to promote the realization of the Paris Agreement. There has been a global consensus on utilizing solar energy resources as alternatives to conventional sources to support this energy transition. In this regard, analyzing the “location,” “quantity,” and “quality” of global solar energy resources will not only assist an individual country to efficiently utilize these resources but also promote the realization of large-scale intercontinental resource utilization and complementation. This study established the basic database, model methods, and platform tools for global solar energy assessment, Then, a global solar energy resource assessment was conducted, which included the theoretical reserves (TRs), technical installed potential capacity (TPIC), and average development cost (ADC). A comparative analysis of the assessment results for all continents was also performed. After that, based on big data analysis and geographic information system (GIS) calculations, the distribution characteristics of the global solar power TPIC were calculated with the two core indicators, namely the capacity factor and ADC. Furthermore, a data-driven quantitative evaluation of the refined development potential of solar energy resources was performed. Finally, the reasonableness and coincidence analysis of the resource assessment results were verified using data from global and specifically Chinese photovoltaic (PV) bases.