Identifying optimal locations for photovoltaic solar farms in Ontario, Canada
This study aimed to identify optimal locations for photovoltaic solar farms in Ontario, Canada. One-hundred and sixty-two Ontarian sites were ranked according to the suitability of their climate conditions, using data on insolation, daylight hours, cloud coverage, humidity, and temperature. The purpose of this study was twofold: one, to help policymakers identify locations for future solar farms, and two, to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of current solar farm locations. The data used in this study was retrieved from the Ontario Climate Normals Database, the Ontario Climate Change Portal, and the NASA Prediction of WorldWide Energy Resource (POWER) database. Using this data, an algorithm was designed to determine the suitability of each municipality's climate conditions for solar farm adoption. It was concluded that the optimal locations for solar farm construction in Ontario were in the regions surrounding the weather stations of Culloden Easey, Delhi, and Hagersville.