Global available solar energy under physical and energy return on investment constraints

•A novel grid-cell approach to estimate global solar energy potential.•Solar potentials constrained by land-use, technology conversion and net energy.•A new solar-to-electric efficiency parametrization for CSP power plants.•Power plants design optimised by maximising the Energy Return on Investment.•Solar potential is established between 1089 and 165 EJ/year at EROImin from 5 to 9.