Mapping urban solar potential
OVERVIEW
Through the NSW Government Premier's Innovation Initiative - Open Data, Department of Finance, Services & Innovation was seeking transformative projects and services that made better use of public data.
KEY INFO
| Location: | Sydney NSW |
| Stakeholders: |
NSW Government SSROC |
| Solutions: | Solar |
THE BRIEF
Through our experience in renewable energy platform and program development, we saw the opportunity to create an online tool catering to the needs of larger organisations who wish to explore and invest in onsite renewable energy at scale. The online tool would model a solar intensity map at high resolution, and couple this data with building energy use data to generate estimated returns from installing solar PV systems with different sizes and locations across their asset portfolio.
In delivering, we sought out regional partners with an interest in deploying solar PV systems across multiple building assets where it makes sense to do so.
THE RESULTS
Working with pilot councils in the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC), a solar PV mapping and investment platform was developed to service that region.
The project team was assisted by Inner West, Bayside, Canada Bay and Canterbury-Bankstown officers in designing and testing the platform.
Pilot council partners have since used the platform to plan for solar PV roll out on their council buildings, considering both outright ownership and power purchasing agreement (PPA) models.
Urban EP has begun to embed this capacity into its wider energy strategy services, and is engaging with other sectors on applications inside the SSROC region and beyond.