Harmonised global datasets of wind and solar farm locations and power

Measurement(s)geographic location center dot powerTechnology Type(s)digital curation center dot computational modeling techniqueFactor Type(s)landscape area center dot panel area center dot turbinesSample Characteristic - Environmentatmospheric wind center dot stellar radiation center dot power plantSample Characteristic - LocationEarth (planet) Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: 10.6084/m9.figshare.12063225 Energy systems need decarbonisation in order to limit global warming to within safe limits. While global land planners are promising more of the planet's limited space to wind and solar photovoltaic, there is little information on where current infrastructure is located. The majority of recent studies use land suitability for wind and solar, coupled with technical and socioeconomic constraints, as a proxy for actual location data. Here, we address this shortcoming. Using readily accessible OpenStreetMap data we present, to our knowledge, the first global, open-access, harmonised spatial datasets of wind and solar installations. We also include user friendly code to enable users to easily create newer versions of the dataset. Finally, we include first order estimates of power capacities of installations. We anticipate these data will be of widespread interest within global studies of the future potential and trade-offs associated with the global decarbonisation of energy systems.