The following resources cover ESA-funded projects and open tools relevant to EO users working on renewable energy resource assessment, site suitability, installation monitoring, and grid planning — spanning solar, wind, and hydro applications.
ESA Green Transition Information Factory (GTIF) — Energy Transition
GTIF's Energy Transition domain provides interactive tools for exploring the suitability of locations at 10 m resolution for solar and wind energy expansion, accounting for terrain, distance to grid, settlements and protected areas. Additional capabilities include: hydropower reservoir monitoring via satellite altimetry (Sentinel-3); rooftop PV potential and yield assessment for cities; wind turbine detection from Sentinel-2 imagery; and offshore renewable energy siting (solar, tidal, wave, wind) with a harshness index for site characterisation. Expanding from the initial Austria demonstrator to Baltic States, UK, Ireland and France.
ESA EO4Energy
ESA's dedicated initiative for exploring and promoting the use of EO technology across the energy transition — covering solar site selection and performance monitoring, offshore wind characterisation using SAR data, hydropower resource assessment, grid infrastructure monitoring, and renewable energy plant performance. Provides a knowledge hub with use cases, project portfolios and guidance for energy sector users new to satellite data.
CAMS Solar Radiation Service
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service provides free, open historical time series of global, direct, diffuse and direct-normal solar irradiation from 2004 to near-present, derived from geostationary satellite data (Meteosat, Himawari) combined with atmospheric modelling. Globally available for clear-sky conditions; regional all-sky products cover Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Accessible via the Atmosphere Data Store as on-demand point queries or gridded datasets. The primary satellite-based solar resource input for planning, yield prediction and grid integration studies.
JRC PVGIS — Photovoltaic Geographical Information System
A free, open web application from the EU Joint Research Centre that estimates photovoltaic system performance and solar irradiation for any location in the world. Outputs include monthly and annual electricity production, hourly time series, Typical Meteorological Year datasets, and off-grid system sizing — for grid-connected, stand-alone and tracking PV configurations. No registration required; results downloadable as CSV or JSON. Based on satellite-derived radiation data including CAMS, SARAH and NSRDB. PVGIS 6 (with bifacial and advanced grid-connected configurations) is in beta.
Global Solar Atlas
A free, map-based platform from the World Bank Group / ESMAP providing global solar irradiation and PV power potential data at ~250 m resolution, based on over two decades of satellite observations. Offers interactive maps, a simplified PV output calculator, country-level fact sheets and GIS-ready data downloads (CC BY 4.0). The standard pre-feasibility tool for solar developers, governments and development banks — particularly in markets where ground measurement data is sparse. Pairs naturally with the Global Wind Atlas for hybrid assessments.
Global Wind Atlas
A free, web-based tool from the World Bank Group / ESMAP and DTU Wind providing global wind resource data at 250 m resolution, derived from ERA5 reanalysis downscaled using the WAsP mesoscale and microscale modelling approach. Includes mean wind speed, power density, capacity factor estimates, and an energy yield calculator using user-defined turbine power curves. Coverage extends 200 km offshore. GIS layers downloadable at country and regional level. The reference tool for preliminary wind site screening and policy planning globally.
IRENA Global Atlas for Renewable Energy
An open GIS platform from the International Renewable Energy Agency allowing users to overlay and download data on all major renewable energy resources — solar, wind, hydropower, bioenergy, geothermal and marine — alongside ancillary layers such as transmission networks, road infrastructure, protected areas, population density and topography. Functions as a simplified GIS for initial zone screening and opportunity mapping. Directly integrates data from the Global Solar Atlas and Global Wind Atlas, enabling cross-resource comparison and hybrid energy planning.
