An Assessment of the Solar Potential of Roofs within a Web-based Solar Cadastre
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Chuprikova, E.; 2Gartner, G.; 3Innerebner, M.
1TU VIENNA, EURAC RESEARCH Email: ekaterina.chuprikova@eurac.edu
2TU VIENNA Email: georg.gartner@tuwien.ac.at
3EURAC RESEARCH Email: markus.innerebner@gmail.com
Abstract
In the last decade the energy issue became a crucial component of ecologically and economically sustainable urban development. The conventional energy sources such as oil, gas and coal are tending to decrease, whereas the renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind power, hydropower, biofuel, biomass and geothermal energy are making a great contribution into producing electric energy, domestic hot water, heating and motor fuels. Moreover, solar technologies are quite mature already and offer a variety of technical solutions for on-site energy generation. Along with clean and sustainable energy production photovoltaic systems could be installed for a reasonable cost, therefore, their use is growing and private users as well as local authorities demonstrate wide interest in identifying areas suitable for mounting the solar modules. Based on LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a remote sensing technology, precise surface and terrain models can be constructed for evaluation of solar radiation distribution and shadowing at each location. Furthermore, for photovoltaic potential estimations it is necessary to include the information about ambient temperature and parameters of the considered photovoltaic technologies. To proceed with this assignment, the information should be merged and visualized in a convenient way for the end user, which is not trivial. The actual research is aimed at the implementation of the methodology for solar potential estimation within the Web environment, storing and sharing the data and metadata within existing SDI, and eventual visualization of solar information on the building roofs. The proposed solution includes development of a WebGIS application, a state-of-the-art technology, which offers immediate access to the information about solar radiation distribution, electrical energy, emission savings and photovoltaic output on building roofs within a single environment. The WebGIS can provide communities with information that will drive sustainable practices, community awareness, energy efficiency and smart development. The solution includes work on the combination of vector and raster data that allows evaluation of the incoming solar radiation hitting the roof tops. Moreover, the approach doesn’t require the installation of additional software and uses open-source, data standards and APIs. The tool is implemented in a three layer architecture: user interface, application server and spatial database. The results represent a preliminary assessment of solar potential characteristics that can be used to support management decisions regarding investments in the solar systems. The research is applied to the study area in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (Alto Adige / Südtirol), Northern Italy. South Tyrol is Italy's Green Region - a model province in the renewable energy sector. Due to the favorable geographic location, South Tyrol has a great solar potential. The combination of cool temperatures and large amounts of solar radiation provides with the ideal conditions for solar power systems. However, the complex mountain landscape makes an assessment of solar potential challenging.
Keywords
solar map; WebGIS; urban planning