Assessing global land-based solar–wind complementarity using high-resolution climate reanalysis for hybrid renewable energy design

• High solar–wind complementarity found in northern Europe, the Sahel, and Brazil. • Central Africa and Southeast Asia show synchronized solar and wind variability. • Seasonal shifts enhance complementarity in the Sahel during spring and autumn. • Low-complementarity zones have expanded in parts of Australia over time. • Regional patterns inform hybrid energy planning for land-based resource use. Solar and wind resources vary across space and time, affecting the performance of renewable energy systems. Global land-based complementarity between these two resources from 1950 to 2021 is examined to inform hybrid energy planning. It is hypothesized that spatiotemporal resource relationships form distinct regional patterns with implications for system design. The analysis uses high-resolution surface climate reanalysis data developed by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and applies a composite metric that combines rank-based correlation with interannual variability. Cluster analysis reveals four major categories of complementarity. Strong seasonal offsets are identified in northern Europe, the Sahel, and Brazil, where correlation values fall below –0.7 during spring and autumn. Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and Australia show synchronized resource patterns, indicating limited potential for hybridization without storage. From 2001 to 2021, an expansion of low-complementarity zones is observed in Australia, associated with rising wind energy potential. These findings support the need for regionally tailored hybrid energy strategies to accelerate the low-carbon transition. Future work should explore sub-daily variability and refine system design under evolving climate conditions. This study provides a globally consistent and physically grounded framework for identifying hybrid renewable energy opportunities, supporting long-term infrastructure planning and climate adaptation strategies.