Solar Maps

These solar maps provide average daily total solar resource information on grid cells.

Learn how the maps were made.

If you have difficulty accessing these maps because of a disability, contact the Geospatial Data Science Team.

U.S. Solar Resource Maps

These maps show solar photovoltaics and concentrating solar power resource potential for the United States.

U.S. Solar Radiation 10-km Static Maps 1998–2005

These maps provide monthly average and annual average daily total photovoltaic and concentrating solar power solar resource averaged over surface cells of 0.1 degrees in both latitude and longitude, or about 10 km in size.

The State University of New York/Albany satellite radiation model was developed by Richard Perez and collaborators at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and other universities for the U.S. Department of Energy. Specific information about this model can be found in A New Operational Satellite-to-Irradiance Model (2002). This model uses hourly radiance images from geostationary weather satellites, daily snow cover data, and monthly averages of atmospheric water vapor, trace gases, and the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere to calculate the hourly total insolation (sun and sky) falling on a horizontal surface. Atmospheric water vapor, trace gases, and aerosols are derived from a variety of sources. The procedures for converting the collector at latitude tilt are described in Solar Radiation Data Manual for Flat-plate and Concentrating Collectors (1994).