Mapping Solar Energy Potentials in an Urban Environment

Keywords: Solar Energy; GIS; LiDar
Abstract Type: Virtual Poster Abstract

Abstract

Clean energy has become increasingly important for the world’s sustainable development. This research aims to map the potentials of solar energy for an urban environment with GIS and remote sensing technologies. Incoming solar radiation from the sun is modified as it travels through the earth’s atmosphere. The earth’s surface topography and nature and man-made features also modify the incoming solar radiation. Incoming solar radiation is composed of direct, diffuse and reflected radiations. Direct radiation arrived the earth surface from sun in a direct line.

LiDAR data is used to extract urban 3D features such as buildings and trees and the results are verified with high resolution aerial ortho and oblique photos. The direct solar radiation originating from each sky direction is calculated using a sun map in the same hemispherical projection as the viewshed. A sun map is a raster representation that displays the sun track, or apparent position of the sun as it varies through the hours of day and through the days of the year. TThe solar radiation originating from each sector is calculated separately, and the viewshed is overlaid on the sun map for calculation of direct radiation. Diffuse radiation originates from all sky directions because of scattering by atmospheric components (clouds, particles, and so forth). To calculate diffuse radiation for a location, a sky map is created to represent a hemispherical view of the entire sky divided into a series of sky sectors defined by zenith and azimuth angles.