Analysis of the solar and wind energetic complementarity in Mexico

In this paper, the temporal energetic complementarity between solar and wind resources for Mexico is presented. Energetic complementarity studies are useful to assess the feasibility for the combined use of two or more renewable energy sources with high variability, over a specific interval of time, and help to identify potential sites for the installation of new generation systems. The energetic complementarity study carried out in this research is based on the Pearson correlation coefficient. This coefficient lets to know the correlation between the solar and wind resources, and with the obtained results new maps are generated showing the monthly and annual energetic complementarity in the country. Besides, for practical use of the presented maps in the analysis the natural protected areas of the country, the orography, and the location of the transmission system are included. Also, a comparison between the results obtained and the sites where have been already installed generation systems based on solar and wind energy is presented. The obtained results show that Mexico has many sites with great energetic complementarity, some of them are being exploited, but still, there are sites from the center to the north of the country which have not been exploited and where renewable energy generation systems can be developed. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.