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Solar resource data available for Canada

The solar resource data currently available for Canada has been summarized in the table below. Historical averages and other statistics are available, as well as time series data starting as early as 1953 and extending up to near real-time. Some data is publicly available for free, while other data must be purchased (as indicated by “$” in the summary).

Dataset Source Time Coverage Radiation components Time resolution Spatial resolution
CWEEDS (free)
http://climate.weather.gc.ca/prods_servs/
engineering_e.html
Ground stations (Environment Canada) 1998-2016
(station-dependent)
GHI, DNI, DHI Hourly 564 stations
CWEC (free)
http://climate.weather.gc.ca/prods_servs/
engineering_e.html
Ground stations (Environment Canada) TMY GHI, DNI, DHI Hourly TMY 564 stations
CERES (free)
ftp://climate_services:msc_services@
ftp.tor.ec.gc.ca/Climate_Services/
Ground stations (Environment Canada) 1974-1993 statistics GHI, DNI, DHI, GTI Monthly statistics 144 stations
PV Maps (free) Ground stations (Environment Canada) 1974-1993 means GHI, GTI Monthly means 60 arc seconds, ~2 km
SUNY (free)
ftp://ftp.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/SOLAR/
Satellite (GOES) 2002-2008 GHI, DNI Hourly 1/10° (~8 by 11 km at 45°N)
NASA POWER (free)
https://power.larc.nasa.gov/
Satellite 1983-now GHI, DNI, DHI, GTI Daily 1° (~80 by 110 km at 45°N)
Green Power Labs ($)
http://www.greenpowerlabs.com/
solarfortheworld.php
 Satellite (GOES) 2007-now  GHI, DNI, DHI 30 minutes  1 km
Turquoise Technology Solutions ($)
http://sunmetrix.com/
Satellite (GOES) 2006-now GHI, DNI, DHI 1 hour 1/30° (~3 km)
Clean Power Research ($)
http://www.cleanpower.com/
Satellite (GOES) 1998-now GHI, DNI, DHI 1 minute 0.01° (~1 km)
SolarGIS ($)
http://solargis.info/ 
Satellite (GOES-EAST) 1999-now GHI, DNI, DHI, GTI 1 minute 250 m
3TIER ($)
http://www.3tier.com/en/
Satellite (GOES) 1997-now GHI, DNI, DHI 1 hour 1/30° (~3 km)
METEONORM ($)
http://meteonorm.com/
Ground stations (GEBA) & satellite 1981-1990; 1986-2005 statistics & TMY GHI, DNI, DHI, GTI 1 minute TMY Any location
High-Resolution Solar Radiation Datasets Ground stations (NRCan) Selected days in 2014 and 2015 GHI, GTI 10 milliseconds to 1 minute 41 stations across two sites

List of acronyms

GHI: Global horizontal irradiance
DNI: Direct normal irradiance
DHI: Diffuse horizontal irradiance
GTI: Global tilted irradiance (in an inclined plane)
TMY: Typical meteorological year

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