Total primary energy supply:
Land area requirements
Matthias Loster
Solar power systems installed in the areas defined by the dark disks could provide a little more than the world's current total primary energy demand (assuming a conversion efficiency of 8 %). That is, all energy currently consumed, including heat, electricity, fossil fuels, etc., would be produced in the form of electricity by solar cells. The colors in the map show the local solar irradiance averaged over three years from 1991 to 1993 (24 hours a day) taking into account the cloud coverage available from weather satellites.
Solar irradiance data
The spatially resolved solar irradiance is calculated with an algorithm developed by Bishop and Rossow [1] based on data made available through the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) [2] which provides calibrated data collected by geostationary weather satellites around the world. The solar irradiance shown is a three year average from 1991 to 1993 and provides the total irradiance in a grid of 2.5° spacing in lattitude and longitude.
All data points are plotted in orthogonal lattitude and longitude coordinates. In consequence, distances, areas, and angles are increasingly distorted towards the poles. The coastline overlay was obatined from the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) [3].
Land areas
Photovoltaic systems installed in the areas indicated by the dark disks on the map would produce an average electric output of 18 TWe, i.e. 3 TWe each when assuming a conversion efficiency from incident sunlight to electricity of 8 %. This corresponds to an energy output of 13,567 Mtoe per year (world total primary energy supply (TPES) in 2003: 10,579 Mtoe [4]). The following table lists the locations in the map to give an idea of land area requirements and availability, although the particular scenario shown is suboptimal for many political and technical reasons.
| Location / Desert |
Desert Size /
km2 [5] |
Irradiation /
W m-2 |
Area required /
km2 |
| Africa, Sahara |
9,064,960 |
260 |
144,231 |
| Australia, Great Sandy |
388,500 |
265 |
141,509 |
| China, Takla Makan |
271,950 |
210 |
178,571 |
| Middle-East, Arabian |
2,589,910 |
270 |
138,889 |
| South America, Atacama |
139,860 |
275 |
136,364 |
| U.S.A., Great Basin |
492,100 |
220 |
170,455 |
References
[1] J. K. B. Bishop and W. B. Rossow. Spatial and temporal variability of global surface solar irradiance. J. Geophys. Res. 96, 16839-16858 (1991).
[2] International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP). http://isccp.giss.nasa.gov/
[3] National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), NOAA Satellite and Information Service, Coastline Extractor. http://rimmer.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/coast/
[4] International Energy Agency (IEA), Key World Energy Statistics 2005. http://www.iea.org/
[5] Map of World Deserts. http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-desert-map.htm