In the context of modelling energy indicators—particularly for solar photovoltaic (SPV) and wind power (WON, WOF)—not all locations are suitable for energy infrastructure deployment. Environmental, technical, or regulatory constraints (such as protected zones, steep terrain, urbanised regions, or polar areas) can limit the feasibility of energy projects in certain areas. To account for these limitations, the C3S Energy Service provides combined exclusion masks that help identify areas unsuitable for SPV and wind power deployment.
These masks are not used by default in the core modelling workflows to maintain generality and ensure consistency across global outputs. However, they are provided as optional inputs for user-defined filtering or post-processing. Users can apply them to exclude non-viable areas from potential energy resource assessments, depending on their planning needs or scenario assumptions.
Overview of Exclusion Areas
Each exclusion mask defines a specific spatial criterion that limits suitability for wind or solar energy production. The masks are structured as global, gridded binary datasets and are aligned with the spatial resolution of the energy indicators.
The value assigned to each grid cell depends on the exclusion type:
0 – The grid cell is not excluded (i.e., it is considered potentially suitable).
1 – The grid cell is excluded based on the defined criterion.
(Exception: see "Water & Continental Water Areas" mask below, which uses values 0, 1, and 2.)
Table 1.1 summarises the individual exclusion layers that were considered in the present dataset.
Table 1.1: Exclusion area masks and their descriptions. These masks are not individually available for download on the CDS, but they were employed to build the combined exclusion masks.
| Exclusion Area | Description |
|---|---|
| Protected Areas | Protected zones (e.g., parks, reserves). |
| Polar Areas | Areas above Arctic/Antarctic circles. |
| Urban Areas | Grid cells with urban coverage ≥ 45%. |
| Water & Continental Water Areas | Land–sea classification: 0=land, 1=ocean, 2=inland water. |
| High Slope Areas | Areas where slope ≥ 60%. |
| High Elevation Areas | Grid cells with extreme elevation. |
| Distance to Shore | Areas more than 200 nautical miles (NM) from coastlines. |
Combined Exclusion Layers
To simplify usage and enhance interoperability with energy modelling workflows, the Service provides two combinations of the above masks:
Combined Exclusion for SPV
This mask integrates all the individual exclusion layers. It is designed to approximate a realistic buildable area for large-scale solar energy deployment (see Figure 2.1).Combined Exclusion for Wind Power (WON/WOF)
This mask includes all layers except for the water/continent mask, as offshore wind (WOF) operates in marine environments (see Figure 2.2).
In both cases, the combined masks apply a union logic: if a grid cell is excluded in any of the individual layers, it is also excluded in the final combined mask.
The two combined masks are available for download in the "Weights and masks" widget of the download form, with the names "Wind power regions mask" and "Solar PV mask", respectively.
For more detailed information on the file naming and characteristics of these masks, please refer to the Appendix of the Product User Guide.
Figure 2.1: Combined exclusion mask for Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) modelling, illustrating global regions excluded based on the exclusion areas described in Table 1.1.
Note: while this mask is provided as ancillary data for user-defined filtering or post-processing, it was not applied in the standard SPV modelling conducted by this Service.
Figure 2.2: Combined exclusion mask for Wind Power modelling, illustrating global regions excluded based on the exclusion areas described in Table 1.1.
Note: while this mask is provided as ancillary data for user-defined filtering or post-processing, it was not applied in the standard wind power modelling conducted by this Service.
