Daily average solar irradiance on tilted surfaces for all of Canada

This dataset includes daily averages of solar irradiance on tilted surfaces for all of Canada based on the period of 1998 - 2022.

Daily averages of solar irradiance are displayed on both a monthly and annual basis for ten different tilt and tracking methods relative to the ground (horizontal) and latitude of the location.

The daily averages were derived from multi-year satellite-derived solar resource datasets at an hourly temporal resolution and gridded geospatial resolution of approximately 10 km by 10 km.

The data can be used to further assess the potential of solar energy technologies in Canada, including solar photovoltaics (PV) for electricity and solar thermal for domestic hot water and space heating.

Maps of solar resource potential in Canada – Data Format

The data stored in these files includes the daily-average insolation on tilted surfaces in units of kW·hr/m² for a given period. Each band represents period, numbered in order: band 1 = Annual, band 2 = January, band 3 = February, ..., band 13 = December.

The period of averaging is the year 1998-2022, inclusive.

Four fixed tilted surfaces of 0° (horizontal), 30°, 60°, and 90° (vertical) relative to the horizontal plane:

- fixed tilted surfaces of 0° (vertical) relative to the horizontal plane (H+ 00 S+00)

- fixed tilted surfaces of 30° (vertical) relative to the horizontal plane (H+ 30 S+00)

- fixed tilted surfaces of 60° (vertical) relative to the horizontal plane (H+ 60 S+00)

- fixed tilted surfaces of 90° (vertical) relative to the horizontal plan (H+ 90 S+00)

Three fixed tilted surfaces of 0°, +15°, and -15°, relative to the local latitude:

- fixed tilted surfaces of 0° relative to the local latitude (L+00 S+00)

- fixed tilted surfaces of +15°, relative to the local latitude (L+00 S+00)

- fixed tilted surfaces of -15°, relative to the local latitude (L+00 S+00)

- A two-axis tracking surface that follows the sun throughout the day (T+00 T+00)

- A single-axis tracking surface with the axis aligned north-south, tracking the sun east to west (A+00_S+90)

- A single-axis tracking surface with the axis aligned east-west, tracking the sun's elevation (A+00_S+00)

Simple

Date ( RI_367 )
2025-06-16
Date ( RI_366 )
2021-07-31
RI_419
  Government of Canada;Natural Resources Canada;Canmet ENERGY Ottawa/Energy Technology Sector/Buildings and Renewables - ( )
Status
onGoing; enContinue RI_596
Maintenance and update frequency
asNeeded; auBesoin RI_540
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus Thésaurus des sujets de base du gouvernement du Canada ( RI_528 )
  • Meteorological data
  • Solar energy
  • Renewable resources
  • Renewable energy
  • Climate
Use limitation
Open Government Licence - Canada (http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)
Access constraints
license; licence RI_606
Use constraints
license; licence RI_606
Spatial representation type
vector; vecteur RI_635
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Metadata language
fre; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Topic category
  • Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere
  • Environment
Begin date
1998-01-01
End date
2022-12-31
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S
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Reference system identifier
http://www.epsg-registry.org / EPSG:3978
Distribution format
  • ESRI REST ( unknown )

RI_414
  Government of Canada;Natural Resources Canada;Strategic Policy and Innovation Sector, Federal Geospatial Platform
OnLine resource
Daily average solar irradiance on tilted surfaces for all of Canad ( ESRI REST: Map Server )

Web Service;ESRI REST;eng

OnLine resource
Daily average solar irradiance on tilted surfaces for all of Canada ( ESRI REST: Map Server )

Web Service;ESRI REST;fra

OnLine resource
Daily average solar irradiance on tilted surfaces for all of Canada ( OGC:WMS )

Web Service;WMS;eng

OnLine resource
Daily average solar irradiance on tilted surfaces for all of Canada ( OGC:WMS )

Web Service;WMS;fra

OnLine resource
A single-axis tracking surface with the axis aligned North-South, tracking the sun's elevation (A+00_S+90) ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;zxx

OnLine resource
single-axis tracking North to South (A+00_S+90) ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;zxx

OnLine resource
1998-2022_H+00_S+00.tif ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;zxx

OnLine resource
1998-2022_H+30_S+00.tif ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;zxx

OnLine resource
1998-2022_H+60_S+00.tif ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;zxx

OnLine resource
1998-2022_H+90_S+00.tif ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;zxx

OnLine resource
1998-2022_L+00_S+00.tif ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;zxx

OnLine resource
1998-2022_L+15_S+00.tif ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;zxx

OnLine resource
1998-2022_L-15_S+00.tif ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;zxx

OnLine resource
1998-2022_T+00_T+00.tif ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;zxx

OnLine resource
Maps of solar resource potential in Canada – Data Format ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;DOCX;fra

OnLine resource
Maps of solar resource potential in Canada – Data Format ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;DOCX;eng

File identifier
1ab9f334-1e24-468b-bdc5-c086b3c19c8a XML
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Hierarchy level
dataset; jeuDonnées RI_622
Date stamp
2025-07-22T09:34:04
Metadata standard name
North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003 - Geographic information - Metadata
Metadata standard version
CAN/CGSB-171.100-2009
RI_420
  Government of Canada;Natural Resources Canada;Canmet ENERGY Ottawa/Energy Technology Sector/Buildings and Renewables/Renewable Heat and Power - ( )
1 Haanel Drive , Ottawa , K1A 1M1 ,
Hours of service
09:00-17:00 EST
 
 

Overviews

overview
Solar_RAD_FR.jpg
overview
Solar_RAD_EN.jpg

Spatial extent

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S
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W
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Keywords


Provided by

Associated resources

Not available