This study evaluates the solar-energy potential of naturally inclined terrain along a 200 m-wide landward strip of the wrinkled northern coast of the Mingechevir Reservoir, Azerbaijan. The study line extends from map-derived point A (41.0028° N, 46.6509° E) to point B (40.8000° N, 47.1127° E). The methodology combines the “time-of-use” optimal-orientation approach of Gardashov (2022), terrain slope and aspect screening, and long-term solar-resource information from the Global Solar Atlas, ERA5 and MERRA-2. To prevent positional uncertainty from including reservoir water or deep inland terrain, the endpoints are treated as along-shore anchors, the shoreline is traced between their nearest coastal positions, and a one-sided 200 m landward buffer defines the study polygon. Annual, spring/summer and autumn/winter target orientations were taken as 34°/180°, 19°/180°, and 56°/180° (tilt/azimuth), respectively, with stated angular tolerances. In the numerical terrain model, the georeferenced shoreline and the Copernicus GLO-30 DEM tiles were used. The screening indicates that the north shore is structurally favourable because many slopes face generally south towards the reservoir. The estimated suitable terrain area is largest for summer and spring-autumn orientations, smaller for the annual orientation, and limited for the steep winter orientation. The results support the concept of using naturally oriented coastal slopes for PV placement, while demonstrating that final engineering quantities require direct high resolution DEM, land-cover, geotechnical and grid-access data.

Keywords: Mingechevir Reservoir, solar energy, photovoltaic orientation, terrain aspect, digital elevation model, Global Solar Atlas, ERA5, MERRA-2, time of use

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