Estimating Rooftop Suitability for PV: A Review of Methods, Patents, and Validation Techniques

Technical Report · Sun Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1117057· OSTI ID:1117057

Melius, J. ^[1]; Margolis, R. ^[1]; Ong, S. ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

A number of methods have been developed using remote sensing data to estimate rooftop area suitable for the installation of photovoltaics (PV) at various geospatial resolutions. This report reviews the literature and patents on methods for estimating rooftop-area appropriate for PV, including constant-value methods, manual selection methods, and GIS-based methods. This report also presents NREL's proposed method for estimating suitable rooftop area for PV using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data in conjunction with a GIS model to predict areas with appropriate slope, orientation, and sunlight. NREL's method is validated against solar installation data from New Jersey, Colorado, and California to compare modeled results to actual on-the-ground measurements.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1117057
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP-6A20-60593
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
ROOFTOP
SOLAR
PHOTOVOLTAICS
PV
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
GIS
SLOPE
ASPECT
ORIENTATION
SUNLIGHT
HILLSHADE
LIDAR
Energy Analysis
Solar Energy - Photovoltaics