An interactive tool for visualization and prediction of solar radiation and photovoltaic generation in Colombia

Figures & data

Figure 1. The flowchart of Colombian Solar Atlas.

Table 1. Comparison between other atlases and the Colombian Solar Atlas.

	PVGIS	Global Solar Atlas	Chilean Atlas	IDEAM Atlas	Proposed Solar Atlas
Datasets used	ERA5, NSRDB, SARAH	SOLAR-GIS	GOES EAST	In-situ data	NSRDB and CORDEX
Analyzed time period	2005–2015	1994–2020	2004–2016	2015	1998–2019 and 2070–2099
Visualize different heat maps		✓		✓	✓
Allows to download information	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Allows to calculate PV potential for different models	✓		✓		✓
Shows meteorological variables	✓	✓	✓		✓
Allows the user to choose different years	✓				✓
Shows maps for climate change scenarios					✓

Figure 2. The flowchart of the NREL Physical Solar Model (PSM).

Figure 3. IDEAM in-situ stations spatially located along the Colombian territory collecting data for (a) GHI, (b) temperature and (c) wind speed variables.

Figure 4. Satellite (x-axis) vs. in-situ (y-axis) averages for GHI (a)(b), temperature (c)(d), and (e)(f) wind speed variables before (left column) and after (right column) bias correction from the period between 1998–2019. Red and green lines represent the 10% and 20% of difference, respectively.

Table 2. Results of the satellite data validation with IDEAM in-situ data before bias correction.

	GHI [W/m^2]	Temperature [°C]	Wind Speed [m/s]
RMSE	116.43 $\pm$ 11.92	2.61 $\pm$ 0.84	1.85 $\pm$ 0.52
%rRMSE	12.07 $\pm$ 1.69	24.01 $\pm$ 14.15	31.95 $\pm$ 15.46
MBE	−25.50 $\pm$ 14.37	0.54 $\pm$ 1.42	0.75 $\pm$ 0.74
%rMBE	−2.72 $\pm$ 1.66	5.72 $\pm$ 17.26	11.93 $\pm$ 19.24
$\rho$	0.91 $\pm$ 0.01	0.75 $\pm$ 0.09	0.31 $\pm$ 0.17

Table 3. Results of the satellite data validation with IDEAM in-situ data after bias correction.

	GHI [W/m^2]	Temperature [°C]	Wind Speed [m/s]
RMSE	105.28 $\pm$ 12.05	2.02 $\pm$ 0.46	1.43 $\pm$ 0.38
%rRMSE	10.84 $\pm$ 1.19	17.96 $\pm$ 6.33	24.08 $\pm$ 6.03
MBE	−0.60 $\pm$ 1.11	−0.02 $\pm$ 0.41	0.21 $\pm$ 0.19
%rMBE	−0.06 $\pm$ 0.12	−0.31 $\pm$ 5.26	2.94 $\pm$ 3.46
$\rho$	0.91 $\pm$ 0.02	0.75 $\pm$ 0.10	0.31 $\pm$ 0.17

Figure 5. Available maps (from left to right and top to bottom): GHI, DHI, DNI, wind Speed, and temperature.

Figure 6. General view of the map with historical data.

Figure 7. Monthly Averages plot.

Figure 8. Hourly Averages plot.

Figure 9. Historical Yearly Averages plot.

Figure 10. Historical Monthly Averages plot.

Figure 11. Historical Hourly Average plot.

Table 4. An overview of the analyzed CORDEX-CORE experiments. Each experiment has one historical and two scenarios (RCP2.6 and RCP8.5), spanning the periods 1970–2005 and 2070–2099, respectively. The horizontal resolution of all simulations is 0.2° in both latitude and longitude.

	RCM
Forcing GCM run	GERICS-REMO2015	ICTP-RegCM4–7
MOHC-HadGEM2-ES	✓	✓
MPI-M-MPI-ESM-LR	✓
MPI-M-MPI-ESM-MR		✓
NCC-NorESM1-M	✓	✓

Figure 12. Available maps (from left to right): solar irradiance, temperature, and wind speed.

Figure 13. General view of map with estimated data.

Figure 14. Monthly behavior graph.

Figure 15. Daily behavior graph.

Figure 16. Average power generation graph.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) at https://developer.nrel.gov/docs/solar/nsrdb/NSRDB, the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment – Coordinated Output for Regional Evaluations (CORDEX-CORE) at https://cordex.org/data-access/how-to-access-the-data/CORDEX-CORE, and the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) at http://dhime.ideam.gov.co/atencionciudadano/IDEAM.