A new solar radiation database for estimating PV performance in Europe and Africa

The Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS) is a web application for the estimation of the performance of photovoltaic (PV) systems in Europe and Africa, which has become widely used by the PV community in Europe. We here present the results of adapting the solar radiation data calculated from satellite data in the Climate Monitoring Satellite Application Facility (CM-SAF) to PVGIS. The CM-SAF solar radiation database is characterized by very low overall bias and shows good accuracy at validation sites. The application to PVGIS brings important improvements relative to the existing solar radiation databases within PVGIS.

► We present a new database of solar radiation calculated from satellite data. ► Hourly resolution of data allows more detailed estimates of PV performance. ► Mean bias error of the new data is +2.6%, smaller than the existing PVGIS database at −6.1%. ► Standard deviation of MBE is lower, at 4.9% vs. 7.9% for the existing PVGIS.