Wind and Solar Potential

Which countries have the most potential for wind and solar power?

PV Potential

Based on data from https://globalsolaratlas.info/., here is a map of the best countries for solar:

Unsurprisingly we have the deserts in Africa, the Middle East, and Chile.

The map on the source website has much more precise intra-country data, so it is definitely worth checking out.

Wind Potential

Based on data from https://globalwindatlas.info/, here is a map of the best countries for wind:

The North Sea, New Zealand, and Patagonia, are the winners.

The data is for the 10% windiest areas per country. It seems that the data excludes offshore wind. The map on the source website has the data in 9km² areas, so, like solar, I’d suggest checking it out.

Combined Potential

Normalising and combing the two, this shows the the combined potential of wind and solar:

Top Countries

This is the top five countries for solar (yellow) and wind (blue). Note Chile is greenish because it is a top five for wind and solar.

Maps above all made with Excel.

Desertec

A final fun map, from the Desertec project:

Solar panels cover that left-most square (254km x 254km) in Algeria would be enough to fulfil the global electricity demand in 2005 (15,000TWh according to the IEA). In 2019 (the latest figures the IEA has), that’s about 22,500TWh, requiring 50% more land. Approximately 5x the space would be needed for all energy (i.e. replacing oil in e.g. vehicles and gas for e.g. heating) - although electrification of everything (such as EVs and heatpumps) could potentially reduce this. That means a total area of approximately 500,000km² - approximately 1/5 of Algeria (and the Algerian desert occupies over 4/5 of Algeria). Cool eh?