Renewable Energy Capacity Factor Maps (2021)

Geoscience Australia and Monash University have produced a series of renewable energy capacity factor maps of Australia. Solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, wind (150 metre hub height) and hybrid wind and solar capacity factor maps are included in this dataset. All maps are available for download in geotiff format.

Solar Photovoltaic capacity factor map

The minimum capacity factor is <10% and the maximum is 25%. The map is derived from Bureau of Meteorology (2020) data. The scientific colour map is sourced from Crameri (2018).

Concentrated Solar Power capacity factor map

The minimum capacity factor is 52% and the maximum is 62%. The map is derived from Bureau of Meteorology (2020) data. Minimum exposure cut-off values used are from International Renewable Energy Agency (2012) and Wang (2019). The scientific colour map is sourced from Crameri (2018).

Wind (150 m hub height) capacity factor map

The minimum capacity factor is <15% and the maximum is 42%. The map is derived from Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (2015) and DNV GL (2016) data. The scientific colour map is sourced from Crameri (2018).

Hybrid Wind and Solar capacity factor maps

Nine hybrid wind and solar maps are available, divided into 10% intervals of wind to solar ratio (eg. (wind 40% : solar 60%), (wind 50% : solar 50%), (wind 60% : solar 40%) etc.). The maps show the capacity factor available for electrolysis. Wind and solar plants might be oversized to increase the overall running time of the hydrogen plant allowing the investor to reduce electrolyser capital expenditures for the same amount of output. Calculations also include curtailment (or capping) of excess electricity when more electricity is generated than required to operate the electrolyser. The minimum and maximum capacity factors vary relative to a map’s specified wind to solar ratio. A wind to solar ratio of 50:50 produces the highest available capacity factor of 64%. The maps are derived from Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (2015), DNV GL (2016) and Bureau of Meteorology (2020) data. The scientific colour map is sourced from Crameri (2018).

See the ‘Downloads' tab for the full list of references.

Disclaimer

The capacity factor maps are derived from modelling output and not all locations are validated. Geoscience Australia does not guarantee the accuracy of the maps, data, and visualizations presented, and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. Capacity factor values shown in the maps should not be relied upon in an absolute sense when making a commercial decision. Rather they should be strictly interpreted as indicative. Users are urged to exercise caution when using the information and data contained. If you have found an error in this dataset, please let us know by contacting clientservices@ga.gov.au. clientservices@ga.gov The capacity factor maps are derived from modelling output and not all locations are validated. Geoscience Australia does not guarantee the accuracy of the maps, data, and visualizations presented, and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. Capacity factor values shown in the maps should not be relied upon in an absolute sense when making a commercial decision. Rather they should be strictly interpreted as indicative. Users are urged to exercise caution when using the information and data contained. If you have found an error in this dataset, please let us know by contacting clientservices@ga.gov.au.

This dataset is published with the permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia.

Identification info

Date (Creation): 2021-02-08

Date (Publication): 2021-03-10T00:44:46

Citation identifier: Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/145109

Identifier

Codespace: Digital Obejct Identifier

Cited responsible party

Role	Organisation / Individual Name	Details
Co-author	Walsh, S.D.C.	External Contact
Co-author	Easton, L.	MEG Internal Contact
Co-author	Feitz, A.	MEG Internal Contact
Co-author	Woods, M.	MEG Internal Contact

Purpose: This dataset provides users open access to renewable energy capacity factor maps of Australia. The dataset is displayed as a web service in the hydrogen component of Geoscience Australia's Economic Fairways Mapper to compliment the renewable hydrogen economic modelling. The web service is also available at Geoscience Australia's, Australia's Hydrogen Opportunities tool (AusH2).

Status: Completed

Point of contact

Role	Organisation / Individual Name	Details
Point of contact	Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)	Voice
Point of contact	Easton, L.	MEG Internal Contact
Resource provider	Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division	External Contact

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Geoscientific information
Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere

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Minimum value: 0

Maximum value: 0

Identifier

Codespace: EPSG

Version: 8.6

Maintenance and update frequency: As needed

Resource format

Title: Product data repository: Various Formats

Website: Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
EARTH SCIENCES

Keywords

renewable energy

Keywords

capacity factor

Keywords

Published_External

Resource constraints

Title: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title: CC-BY

Edition: 4.0

Website

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints: License

Use constraints: License

Resource constraints

Title: Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date: 2018-11-01T00:00:00

Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification: Unclassified

Associated resource

Association Type: Operated on by

Title: Renewable Energy Capacity Factor Maps MapServer

Citation identifier: 145174

Citation identifier: a40aaf84-7f29-4d37-8582-45c044d30a0e

Website

https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/service/ga/145174

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type: Operated on by

Title: Renewable Energy Capacity Factor Maps WMS

Citation identifier: 145175

Citation identifier: d9ca996a-08b8-4aa5-a4bc-71dc481743db

Website

https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/service/ga/145175

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type: Operated on by

Title: Renewable Energy Capacity Factor Maps WCS

Citation identifier: 145280

Citation identifier: dba6853a-e72c-4e67-a0c0-69f55a76444e

Website

https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/service/ga/145280

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Language: English

Character encoding: UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact

Role	Organisation / Individual Name	Details
Distributor	Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)	Voice

OnLine resource: Download the geotiffs [9.6 MB]

Download the geotiffs [9.6 MB]

Distribution format

geotiff

OnLine resource: Download the reference list (pdf) [603 KB]

Download the reference list (pdf) [603 KB]

Distribution format

OnLine resource: Renewable Energy Capacity Factor Maps WMS

Renewable Energy Capacity Factor Maps WMS

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OGC WMS

OnLine resource: Renewable Energy Capacity Factor Maps MapServer

Renewable Energy Capacity Factor Maps MapServer

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ESRI Map Service

OnLine resource: Renewable Energy Capacity Factor Maps WCS

Renewable Energy Capacity Factor Maps WCS

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OGC:WCS

Resource lineage

Statement: This dataset has been produced through a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and Monash University (“Economic Fairways Project” Ref: 004749). Renewable energy capacity factor research and modelling was undertaken by Monash University. Additional research and publication was undertaken by Geoscience Australia.

Metadata constraints

Title: Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date: 2018-11-01T00:00:00

Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification: Unclassified

Metadata

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urn:uuid/0b2f1c73-0358-4ff0-9572-2d1ab5077566

Title: GeoNetwork UUID

Language: English

Character encoding: UTF8

Contact

Role	Organisation / Individual Name	Details
Point of contact	Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)	Voice
Owner	Easton, L	MEG Internal Contact
Point of contact	Easton, L.	MEG Internal Contact

Type of resource

Resource scope: Dataset

Name: Renewable Energy Capacity Factor Maps (2021)

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier: eCatId/145109

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/0b2f1c73-0358-4ff0-9572-2d1ab5077566

Date info (Creation): 2021-02-04T03:21:34

Date info (Revision): 2021-02-04T03:21:34

Metadata standard

Title: AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title: ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title: ISO 19115-3

Title: Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition: Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier: https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

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Read here the full details and access to the data.

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