Primary Uses
- Efficient and easy resource prospecting
- Setting customer expectations
- Integrating into your everyday workflow
- Prioritizing leads and potential sites
- Feasibility for small solar installations
Gain quick and easy access to critical prospecting information using 3TIER's Solar Prospecting Tools. Featuring a user-friendly point and click interface this product is ideal for developers, manufacturers, and installers to quickly explore solar potential and make more informed early-stage decisions without having to visit sites or collect observational data.
With the click of your mouse you have access to solar irradiance data for nearly any location worldwide. Now you can share resource maps and data with colleagues and clients by printing professional reports directly from your browser.
View both annual and monthly mean values of GHI (Global Horizontal Irradiance), DNI (Direct Normal Irradiance), and DIF (Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance) from a 3 km resolution dataset based on over a decade of satellite data.
3TIER's solar irradiance dataset is derived using the same model for the entire globe. Now whether you are comparing sites in California and New Jersey or Sydney and New Delhi you can be confident that you are making reliable comparisons using a consistent dataset.
Tailor the way you see information to the specific needs and demands of your work all within a seamless, drag and drop interface featuring page layout options, maximize and scale tools, and multiple page views.
Select the area you want to explore from 3TIER's vast solar dataset. With widespread coverage from a consistent dataset, you have access to the most accurate, seamless information available. If you are looking for an area to develop, we can provide the tools to get you started.
Prospecting data tools are made available via a client-specific dashboard interface.
3TIER produced the first global solar irradiance map and time-series dataset at roughly three times the resolution of previous US solar datasets and at thirty times the resolution of global datasets available from NASA. Based on over a decade of satellite imagery and cutting-edge technology, our uniform methodology is supported by a large scientific and research community and results in a consistent map and dataset, enabling more accurate point-to-point comparisons.
The dataset is based on actual, half-hourly, high-resolution visible satellite imagery observations via the broadband visible wavelength channel at a 2 arc minute resolution. These data have been processed to hourly GHI, DNI, and DIF values. 3TIER processes the satellite images based on a combination of in-house research and algorithms published in peer-reviewed scientific literature. These algorithms contain parameters and coefficients that are based on empirical fits to observational data. The specific satellites and length of time varies slightly by region due to differences in the availability of data from region to region. See the chart below for more details.
| Regions | Satellites | Temporal Coverage |
| Western Hemisphere | GOES 8 - 13 | 13 years (January 1997 - May 2010) |
| South Asia and Middle East | Meteosat 5, Meteosat 7 | 11 years (January 1999 – February 2010) |
| East Asia and Oceania | GMS 5, GOES 9, AMTSAT | 11 years (December 1999 – March 2010) |
| Europe and Africa | Meteosat 7, Meteosat 9 | 11 years (July 1998 – March 2010) |
To develop and validate our model, 3TIER used observations from:
Find our validation papers here.
If you are unfamiliar with the technical terminology on this page, please visit our Glossary for more information.
