Which country has most solar radiation?

Answer 1

I was looking for the answer, or rather for a ranking of countries by total insolation. I will suggest Australia as a point of comparison and examine a number of candidates. I have read in a few places, probably all from the one ultimate source, that Mexico holds the no. 3 position. Mexico has I think about a quarter of the territory of Australia. With a similar latitude profile to Australia, but in the north. I can't see it, despite some significant altitude, making up the difference on the former's 58 million petajoules. If Mexico is number 3, and lower than Australia, one other country must be either one or two. Of the five countries larger than Australia, the two largest have too high latitude profiles. China and USA suffer some latitude disadvantage, but with some altitude on their side, N.B. the Tibetan plateau, they might be in the running. Brazil appears a stronger candidate, only a shade larger than Australia but with latitude on its side, although perhaps it might experience extensive and prolonged cloud cover. The next main contender would be the no.7 in territory, India. However, it's only half the size of my benchmark, although nearly all of that territory is either very hot or very elevated. Indonesia, Zaire/Congo, Algeria and Sudan are all below the 2,000,000 squeckers barrier. Argentina is above it, but wouldn't appear to receive the kind of average solar radiation intensity to put it in the picture. There can be no other serious candidates. My guess is 50:50, Australia or Brazil, with India as a smoky. In fact, I can't readily sea Mexico as ahead of any of those three. Some chance for the USA or China.