Global Atlas for Renewable Energy

The Global Atlas is a comprehensive information platform on the potential of renewable energy, providing resource maps and evaluation tools from leading technical institutes worldwide. It can function as a catalyst for policy development and energy planning, and support investors in entering renewable energy markets. Doubling of the share of renewable energy globally and ensuring universal access to energy will require detailed planning for large investments in projects and infrastructures. The fundament of this ambitious goal is an accurate estimate of the local renewable energy potential for each resource. Based on this information, it is possible to identify the most suited technology opportunities for each location, to identify priority development areas over a territory, to plan the investments in projects and infrastructures over time, and to ensure that the regulatory framework is adequate to create an attractive investment environment. A large technology and knowledge gap exists between nations having access to the necessary funding, technologies, and expertise to evaluate their national potentials, and those deprived of those elements. The Global Renewable Energy Atlas is an initiative coordinated by IRENA, which aims at federating the existing knowledge on renewable energy potentials and making it freely and publicly accessible