A photovoltaic energy map that included a topography effect on the Korean peninsula was developed using the Gangneung-Wonju National University (GWNU) solar radiation model. The satellites data (MODIS, OMI and MTSAT-1R) and output data from the Regional Data Assimilation Prediction System (RDAPS) model by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) were used as input data for the GWNU model. Photovoltaic energy distributions were calculated by applying high resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) to the topography effect. The distributions of monthly accumulated solar energy indicated that differences caused by the topography effect are more important in winter than in summer because of the dependency on the solar altitude angle. The topography effect on photovoltaic energy is two times larger with 1 km resolution than with 4 km resolution. Therefore, an accurate calculation of the solar energy on the surface requires high-resolution topological data as well as high quality input data.