The solar radiation maps on this page are raster layers with a resolution of 100 m, in UTM-30N projection and ETRS89 datum that contain solar radiation data in the Iberian Peninsula and are distributed in two formats:
MiraMon: .img in .mmzx (ISO 19165:2018), openable directly in MiraMon. GeoTIFF: .tif in .zip (ISO/IEC 21320-1:2015), openable in various environments after downloading the ZIP.
The CAC (Constant Atmospheric Conditions) method is a calculation algorithm that provides an estimate of solar radiation on the land surface based on a standard and constant atmosphere (in this case with an atmospheric optical depth τ0=0.288, typical of clear days, and a contribution of diffuse radiation constant and equal to 20 % of the direct radiation). The solar position, relative to the center of the study area, allows the calculation of the incidence angles with respect to the relief, topographic cast-shading, atmospheric extinction, etc. The calculations have been carried out considering the movement of the Sun every 30' from sunrise to sunset, using the InsolDia application of the MiraMon software and are provided in energy units (kWh) per m² and per day.
The data on this page have been prepared by Catalina Roca-Fernández, Xavier Pons and Miquel Ninyerola, from the Grumets research group at the Autonomous University of Barcelona as a part of a comparative study of methods for calculating solar radiation in the Iberian Peninsula, currently under review in the journal Atmosphere.
Solar radiation layers are offered for the 12 months of the year as an average calculated between 2004 and 2020 (12 layers), as well as in disaggregated form for each month and year (17*12=204 layers).
As a comparative alternative to the CAC method, you can also download solar radiation data calculated with the InsolMets, method which provides a more accurate and realistic treatment of the atmosphere thanks to the use of Remote Sensing data, etc.
Monthly climate data for the period 2004-2020:
Data month by month and year by year in the period 2004-2020:
Please note: These results of the CAC model are not listed, as they match the monthly climatic data shown in the previous table. This is because the CAC model was developed using a simplified solar illumination geometry, under constant atmospheric conditions, and without accounting for cloud cover fraction. These characteristics limit the model’s temporal variability, which explains why its results are identical to the monthly climatic averages.For any questions you can write to Xavier.Pons@uab.cat