GIS-Based Decision Support for Solar Photovoltaic Planning in Urban Environment

In 2007, the European Council decided a fixing goal of 20% contribution of the renewable energy sources (RES) to the total European electric energy production in 2020. Micro-generation systems integrated in urban environment are an interesting opportunity, in terms of research and development of RES. The development of a solar energy planning system to predict the potential of solar energy photovoltaic, solar water heating and passive solar gain is necessary for the optimization of energy efficiency strategies and integration of renewable energy systems in urban areas. The work discussed here relates to solar photovoltaic (PV), technology which has matured to become a technically viable large-scale source of renewable energy sources. This paper illustrates the capabilities of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to determine the available rooftop area for PV deployment for an urban area and how the methodology may enable planners to consider the urban-scale application of solar energy with greatly increased confidence