Exploration of Solar Energy in Papua New Guinea through Remote Sensing and GIS

Climatology and meteorology are essentially driven by the incoming solar radiation and the latter’s latitudinal distribution. In the current climate change scenario, every nation is looking forward to taking control of its greenhouse emissions as a mitigation measure. Rapid exploitation of renewable energy and energy competence have culminated in significant energy safety and self-reliance for the fossil fuel importing countries, apart from climate change mitigation and economic benefits. The availability of solar radiation data is essential in order to evaluate the potential of renewable energy options such as photovoltaic power generation capability in a developing economy like Papua New Guinea. Over the past few decades, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has experienced an increase in electrification and the usage of sustainable energy. The bulk of PNG's population (85%) lives in isolated and dispersed villages in rural areas. Most of these isolated and dispersed areas are still yet to be connected to an electricity supply. Installation of rooftop solar panels can easily generate electricity without affecting the environment in the city area or isolated village area situated from the major infrastructure. In a specified latitudinal expanse, the topography is a major factor that determines the spatial distribution of insolation. Spatial variability of topographic elevation, slope, aspect, and shadows influence the amount of insolation received at different point locations. The variation in incoming solar radiation over space and time for power generation using photovoltaic panels also warrants proper feasibility assessment before investment. In this scenario, solar radiation modeling is attempted in this paper to map and analyse the effects of the sun over a geographic area for specific time periods. Different parameters that are mandatory, like atmospheric condition, latitudinal position, elevation, slope and aspect, sun angle, and topographic shadows are taken into account for the modeling purpose. This research is also an initiation to identify potential roof-tops for solar panel installation. Therefore, micro-level solar radiation modeling is attempted using the high-resolution topographic database.