The Global Atlas for Renewable Energy is an initiative coordinated by IRENA, aimed at closing the gap between nations having access to the necessary datasets, expertise and financial support to evaluate their national renewable energy potential, and those countries lacking such elements.
Source: assets.inhabitat.com
As of January, 2015, 67 countries and more than 50 institutes and partners were contributing to the initiative.
The Global Atlas facilitates a first screening of opportunity where further assessments can be of particular relevance. it enables the user to overlay information listed in a catalog of more than 1,000 datasts, and to identify areas of interest for further prospection. IRENA is continuously adding information to the system.
Currently, the initiative includes maps on solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy resources along with one marine energy map. The initiative will eventually encompass all renewable energy resources, providing global coverage through the first-ever Global Atlas for Renewable Energy.
The GIS interface enables users to visualize information on renewable energy resources, and to overlay additional information. These include, population density, topography, local infrastructure, land use and protected areas. The aim is to enable users to identify areas of interest for further prospection. The GIS interface will progressively integrate software and tools that will allow advanced energy or economic calculations for assessing the technical and economic potential of renewable energy.
On the GIS interface, users can edit the map and add several other datasets from the catalog. The new map can be saved under the user’s personal profile.
Users of the Global Atlas can also launch the Catalog directly and search collections of descriptive information (metadata) for every dataset listed in the catalog. These include, the title of the dataset, the source, the contact person for the dataset and any information on data quality. The web map service (WMS) for the dataset is also included for use in third party applications.
Selected datasets are also accessible through the Global Atlas pocket. The app allows to seek and search renewable energy resource arround you or for any point on the globe. Available on Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phone stores.
Available at globalatlas.irena.org
