High resolution spatio-temporal modelling of solar photovoltaic potential for tropical islands: Case of Mauritius

Tropical and subtropical islands benefit from a wide spectrum of renewable energy resources and advancement in technology has made it feasible for harnessing these clean and abundant energy sources. Mauritius being located in the tropical belt, receives plenteous sunshine all year round. Consequently, to provide assistance to the Government and other relevant organizations wishing to deploy photovoltaic facilities on the island, the methodological framework and results presented have been organized to serve as a strong background to identify the optimum sites for efficient harnessing of solar energy through photovoltaic systems. The Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) analysis coupled to Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) have been used to model the solar photovoltaic potential of the island from a set of social, technical, legal, environmental and climatological factors. The performance of the model has been calibrated using the monthly fluctuations in electricity production from a photovoltaic power plant located on the island. We propose an adapted mathematical formula to theoretically estimate the electricity production from photovoltaic systems on the island on the temporal basis. The outcome of this research is the production of a high resolution yearly mean solar photovoltaic map alongside with the spatio-temporal variability of photovoltaic potential throughout the year. •An MCDM-AHP model is developed to describe microscale variations of PV resource potential.•The methodology excludes constraint zones and analyses 7 influential criteria to assess suitability.•Social, technical, legal, environmental and climatological factors are considered.•The favourable solar photovoltaic potential of the northern region is identified.