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Rooftop solar photovoltaics currently account for 40% of the global solar photovoltaics installed capacity and one-fourth of the total renewable capacity additions in 2018. Yet, only limited information is available on its global potential and associated costs at a high spatiotemporal resolution. Here, we present a high-resolution global assessment of rooftop solar photovoltaics potential using big data, machine learning and geospatial analysis. We analyse 130 million km2 of global land surface area to demarcate 0. 2 million km2 of rooftop area, which together represent 27 PWh yr-1 of electricity generation potential for costs between 40-280 MWh-1. Out of this, 10 PWh yr-1 can be realised below 100 MWh-1. The global potential is predominantly spread between Asia (47%), North America (20%) and Europe (13%). The cost of attaining the potential is lowest in India (66 MWh-1) and China (68 MWh-1), with USA (238 MWh-1) and UK (251 MWh-1) representing some of the costliest countries.
Joshi et al. (Tue,) studied this question.