The Solar Resource Assessment in Mexico: State of the Art

Abstract

In the mid 70's of the last century, the first attempts were initiated in order to know precisely the Solar Climatology of Mexico. For this, data from heliographs and actinographs were used. Latter, in the 90's models based on the use of satellite images were employed. Currently a number of maps and databases describing spatially and temporally the solar resource distribution in the country can be found on the Internet, but in none of them confidence intervals of data are provided. This is due to a simple reason: historically there were only a handful of weather stations in the country that measured solar radiation over a long period of time. In the last two decades several automatic weather station networks have been established, which include radiometers. However, only very recently the radiometers from these stations have started to be systematically calibrated, and assessment of the quality of the previously measured data initiated.

Assessment of the modulation effect of rainfall on solar radiation availability at the Earth's surface

“…In Mexico and particularly in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area (GMA), continuous and systematic monitoring of solar radiation is recent (Valdés‐Barrón et al ., ); spatial and temporal distribution has barely been studied. There are studies that have exposed the behaviour of irradiation throughout the country (Almanza and Lopez, ; Galindo et al ., ; Campos‐Aranda, ; Estrada‐Cajigal and Almanza, ), whereas others have usually associated radiation with the behaviour of meteorological variables and pollutant concentrations in the GMA (Tereshchenko and Filonov, ; Davydova and Skiba, ; Ramírez‐Sánchez et al ., ; Limon‐Sanchez et al ., ).…”

Solar Irradiation Evaluation through GIS Analysis Based on Grid Resolution and a Mathematical Model: A Case Study in Northeast Mexico

“…Other research reports a review of the solar resource assessment in Mexico, where the differences in the estimated radiation between the different maps reported for Mexico stand out; differences that can be of the order of 40% between the reported values. When comparing these results with estimates that make use of satellite measurements, which are more precise, an important drawback is observed in the work of estimating solar irradiation in Mexico [13]. A more recent investigation estimated solar irradiation, along with the assessment of available solar resources based on meteorological and geographical data in the northwestern state of Sonora [14].…”

Solar energy analysis in use and implementation in Mexico: a review

“…In addition, the nation boasts of having one of the biggest PV technology manufacturing bases in South America with its energy potential being high in the Northern-Western part. Matsumoto et al (2014) argue that over 70% of the nation has a Global Horizontal Irradiation value of over 4.5 kWh/m 2 with below 1% of the territory being enough for the generation of solar energy that can power the whole nation (Matsumoto et al , 2014; Valdes-Barrón et al , 2014). The isolation rates of Mexico are quite high, with comparisons showing that they exceed the rates experienced in African and Southwest American deserts (Valdés-Barrón et al , 2013).…”