Solar electricity potential at a district level: a case study of Västervik, Sweden : KTH Master Thesis Report

Abstract: Greenhouse emissions worldwide have been increasing since the beginning of their registration. According to The Global Carbon Project [8], more than 50% of these were emitted from the 90s, that is, in just 30 years. Also, cities are responsible for approximately 60% of global emissions, consuming 78% of energy production and occupying only 2% of the earth’s surface. Therefore, using buildings to produce energy using photovoltaic panels is a trend on the rise. Throughout this project, a method combining topography and engineering programs will be done to assess the solar potential of a city, basing the study on the Swedish city of Västervik, but to obtain a methodology applicable to any other city. First, a literature review is carried out on existing projects, the energy market in Sweden, and the role of renewable energies in this country. Then, the most appropriate method and programs are chosen, and finally, the process is applied to Västervik, thus obtaining the city’s solar potential.  The process is as follows: First of all, the LiDAR data is obtained, transformed, and introduced in ArcMAP. Then, the rooftop footprint is obtained in OSM and converted in QGIS to be introduced in ArcMAP. These are the primary inputs. With this data, the idea is to get the number of available roofs that fulfill three conditions in terms of slope, solar radiation, and direction of the rooftops. With suitable rooftops, energy production is obtained, and finally, these results are validated with the program SolarEdge.