Estimating the Potential for Urban PV for Rooftops and the Grid
Understanding urban PV potential is critical for deciding the optimal sites to install PV systems in a city.
Municipalities and homeowners currently lack information about the real potential for roof-top PV, and the associated challenges that may arise when exchanging energy with the low-voltage (LV) grid.
While a quick estimation of a roof solar energy potential can be done using software packages, obtaining information for a whole district or a city and converting it to accurate PV potential is often difficult, costly and time-intensive. Additionally, it is often unknown whether such a PV potential can be actually utilized by injecting electric energy into the local LV grid.
Our work focuses on developing fast and accurate models for estimating the solar energy potential at neighborhood scale using digital elevation models. In this project, the current low-voltage grid infrastructure in Amsterdam will be probed if capable of receiving and transferring that amount of PV-produced power. Also, the maximum limit of PV integration in urban areas both in terms of solar potential and real AC electrical power within the LV grid will be assessed.
People:
- Dr. Hesan Ziar, Assistant Professor
- Dr. Olindo Isabella, Associate Professor
- Maarten Verkou, Researcher
Partners: TU Delft, AMS, Municipality of Amsterdam
News and Related Resources:
- Calcabrini, A., Ziar, H., Isabella, O. et al. A simplified skyline-based method for estimating the annual solar energy potential in urban environments. Nat Energy 4, 206–215 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-018-0318-6
- TU Delft News (February 2019): A new approach for the fast estimation of the solar energy potential in urban environments
Research Line: Integrating Photovoltaics into Urban Structures, X-IPV systems
