Data quality for the Global Renewable Energy Atlas – Solar and Wind (Concept paper)

The Global Atlas for Renewable Energy provides access to a vast range of solar and wind resource maps created using different methodologies, with different spatial coverage and resolutions. Several datasets may overlap a single territory, and users can choose among several data sources. Yet this very versatility can pose a dilemma for the end-user over the main strengths and weaknesses of the available datasets, and which data is the most suitable to use.

This concept paper builds on the outcomes of the Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment programme (SWERA) funded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the recommendations of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the definition of data quality established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the recommendations of data providers and end-users of the initial Global Atlas for Solar and Wind. Building on those precedents, this latest concept paper from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) puts forward a proposal to define a Data Quality Information Framework applicable to the datasets referenced by the Global Atlas.