The goal of IEA/SHC Task36 "Solar Resource Knowledge Management" is to provide the solar energy industry, the electricity sector, governments, and renewable energy organizations and institutions with the most suitable and accurate information of the solar radiation resources at the Earth's surface in easily-accessible formats and understandable quality metrics.  The scope of solar resource assessment information includes historic data sets and currently derived data products using satellite imagery and other means.

There are three main objectives of this Task to achieve this goal:

• To provide further standardization and benchmarking of international solar resource data sets to insure worldwide intercomparability and acceptance,
• To provide improved data reliability, availability and accessibility in formats that address specific user needs, and
• To develop methods that improve the quality and the spatial and temporal coverage, with customized solar resource products, including reliable solar radiation forecasts.

Achieving these objectives would reduce the cost of planning and deploying solar energy systems, improve efficiency of solar energy systems through more accurate and complete solar resource information, and increase the value of the solar energy produced by solar systems.