Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.egyr.2022.03.187
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) A bottom-up GIS-based method for simulation of ground-mounted PV potentials at regional scale
Author Bao, K.; Kalisch, L.; Santhanavanich, T.; Thrän, D.; Schröter, B.
Source Titel Energy Reports
Year 2022
Department BIOENERGIE
Volume 8
Page From 5053
Page To 5066
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Keywords Photovoltaic; Ground-mounted PV; Bottom-up simulation; Geographic Information System (GIS); Food–water–energy nexus; Potential simulation
Abstract Solar photovoltaic (PV) is a key technology for any renewable energy system. As subsidy-free PV becomes more and more economically feasible, region-specific planning tools that define areas suitable for ground-mounted PV are needed. While many top-down studies have assessed suitable areas at a national scale, an accurate scalable bottom-up assessment of regional ground-mounted PV potentials in high spatial and temporal resolution that goes further than a mere identification of appropriate land areas is missing. This work introduces such a method based on digital landscape models that consider terrain slope, orientation, location-specific irradiation, and land use type, and combines this geoinformatical information with a PV yield model that allows to assess hourly PV generation potential on suitable areas. The method is validated with three existing ground-mounted PV plants in Germany, where a comparison of real and simulated annual electricity yields shows average deviations of 5%. Subsequently, ground-mounted PV potentials in three German counties with varying settlement structures as well as topographic and weather patterns are assessed and a comparison of yearly and hourly simulated generation potentials with regional electricity demand is performed. While the yearly analysis demonstrates the substantial overall potentials of local ground mounted-PV in all regions, with demand coverages ranging from 80% to hypothetically more than 40 times of current electricity demand according to current regulations, the hourly autarky ratio, defined as the share of hours of a year where ground-mounted PV can satisfy demand, ranges from 25% to 40%, without consideration of storage or demand side management. A subsequent investigation of the ability to export excess electricity generation from ground-mounted PV shows that the two regions with highest ground-mounted PV potentials have less-developed grid infrastructures, thus restricting excess electricity generation export potentials.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=26249
Bao, K., Kalisch, L., Santhanavanich, T., Thrän, D., Schröter, B. (2022):
A bottom-up GIS-based method for simulation of ground-mounted PV potentials at regional scale
Energy Rep. 8 , 5053 - 5066 10.1016/j.egyr.2022.03.187