The introduction of SolarGIS data in China will help to mitigate weather-related risk, associated with solar energy projects, and hence will reduce cost of financing

SHANGHAI, May 24, 2012

Feasibility, planning, and monitoring of photovoltaic power generation in China is now supported by state-of-the-art solar and meteo database, maps, and simulation tools.

GeoModel Solar, a leading international provider of solar resource data, innovative photovoltaic simulation tools and expert consultancy, extended the geographical coverage of the SolarGIS solar resource database and online services to the territory of China.

Organizing Committee of SNEC 6th International Exhibition & Conference, which is one of the biggest solar exhibitions in the world, acknowledged SolarGIS as one of Top 10 Highlights of the event. Ten exhibiting companies, presenting the most advanced technologies and products, received this award. The first official presentation of SolarGIS to the Chinese solar energy industry demonstrated strategic importance of this technology.

SolarGIS data and software fill the gap in the solar resource assessment of China. "Lack of accurate solar resource data has been one of the major bottlenecks in the financing of solar energy projects. The introduction of SolarGIS data in China will help to mitigate weather-related risk, associated with solar energy projects, and hence will reduce cost of financing", said Amit Jain, who is an independent consultant.

The SolarGIS database features a unique set of qualities that have triggered new industry standards in terms of accuracy, efficiency and low uncertainty. SolarGIS confirms its position as the best solar resource database in several independent data comparison studies, and has been used in a number of commercial solar energy projects worldwide.

"Use of high-resolution SolarGIS data allows an accurate solar energy yield prediction, which is crucial information for determining financial viability of each solar energy project", said Marcel Suri, Managing director of GeoModel Solar and world leading expert in solar resource assessment and solar data bankability.

Solar power plant developers, engineers, installers, financers, policy-makers and wider community can access SolarGIS database and online assessment tools: iMaps and pvPlanner from the web-based platform http://solargis.info.

iMaps provides access to key solar resource maps of Global Horizontal Irradiation and Direct Normal Irradiation in China with a spatial detail of up to 250 meters. iMaps web application enables identification of the best locations for solar energy projects.

Once a site is selected, photovoltaic electricity yield can be interactively calculated using pvPlanner. This tool simulates long-term electricity production of photovoltaic projects ranging from large open-space power plants to roof-top systems and rural electrification projects.

ABOUT GEOMODEL SOLAR

GeoModel Solar is the developer and operator of the high accuracy solar resource database and software services SolarGIS. The company aims to increase efficiency and reduce uncertainty in solar energy projects by delivering bankable solar resource data and operational software services. For more information, visit http://geomodelsolar.eu/cn