Identification of the Sustainable Wind and Solar Potential in Urban Areas Using a GIS Methodology

In recent years the publication of new legislation in the renewables sector, namely the one related to microgeneration systems, has contributed to an increase in the installation of renewable energy systems in Portugal. Nevertheless, the investment in these systems is still high and the risk of considering sites with reduced resource constitutes a barrier to the development of this sub-sector. In the sequence of the previous work developed in the wind energy planning area, a methodology to identify the sustainable wind and solar potential in urban areas was developed, in order to reduce the pre-installation costs related to a less suitable site selection, and also to identify the real potential of the urban areas. In order to do so, a geographical information system was used and a set of tools was developed. The methodology was structured to enable its replication in other geographical locations and is sufficiently interactive to allow for the variation of the main input data. A case study in two urban environments is presented in this document to illustrate the developed methodology.