Brazilian Solar Resource Atlas CD-ROM

The Brazilian Solar Resource Atlas CD-ROM is intended to be a tool for solar system design, delivering information that relies on a large interactive database, including, also, a modern device for calculating the solar radiation collected by planes inclined at different tilt angles or tracking the sun around one or two axes. The spatial distribution of the daily solar radiation, monthly and yearly averaged, that hits Brazil is presented in 13 colored maps, together with the methodological procedures used for harmonizing the information and designing the maps. A map containing the location of pyranometric and actinographic terrestrial stations, the information which was used for designing the maps, is also presented. The period of collected data runs from 1978 to 1990. Similarly, the atlas contains 13 colored maps, including daily insolation, monthly and yearly averaged, in addition to the map containing the location of the heliographic stations. The CD-ROM stores a database that includes over 500 stations located in Brazil and on the borders of its neighboring countries. The information is given either as daily, monthly average global solar radiation, or daily, monthly average insolation. A search device is included in the database, allowing to navigate over the maps or to select a desired location. The information may be printed as a report. The CD-ROM also includes a software to perform the following calculations: solar radiation estimates on a fixed plane at any inclination on North-South orientation; estimates of solar radiation collected by a plane tracking the sun about one or two axes; generation of synthetic series based on Markov’s Transition Matrixes.