Estimation of Solar Radiation on Building Roofs in Mountainous Areas

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The aim of this study is estimating solar radiation on building roofs in complex mountain landscape areas. A multi-scale solar radiation estimation methodology is proposed that combines 3D data ranging from regional scale to the architectural one. Both the terrain and the nearby building shadowing effects are considered. The approach is modular and several alternative roof models, obtained by surveying and modelling techniques at varying level of detail, can be embedded in a DTM, e.g. that of an Alpine valley surrounded by mountains. The solar radiation maps obtained from raster models at different resolutions are compared and evaluated in order to obtain information regarding the benefits and disadvantages tied to each roof modelling approach. The solar radiation estimation is performed within the open-source GRASS GIS environment using r.sun and its ancillary modules.

Quality Assessment of Roof Planes Extracted from Height Data for Solar Energy Systems by the EAGLE Platform

“…120 km 2 . In Agugiaro et al [33,34], aerial images are also used in addition to LiDAR data to derive digital surface models (DSM) of different resolutions (1.0 m, 0.25 m). The raster-based analysis of inclination, aspect, size and shadowing effects of mountainous topography and nearby buildings is based on a common GIS (GRASS) and its functions (e.g., "r.sun").…”

“…By the intersection of these incidence angles with the DSM, shadowing effects and their duration can be determined for each pixel of a roof plane. Shadow analyses are computationally extremely time-consuming (e.g., Agugiaro et al [33]). Due to the smooth change of the sun paths during a month, the shadowing effects do not need to be calculated for each single day but only for appropriate time intervals, e.g., five days or 10 days: the effects on days in between can be interpolated.…”

Solar Radiation Estimation on Building Roofs and Web-Based Solar Cadastre

“…The need of geometric accuracy and the variety of scales to be considered -from architectural to regional -tend to be diverging forces, so that often a compromise has to be found. This is discussed in Agugiaro et al (2011) where the pros and cons of using high-resolution roof models in an Alpine environment (i.e. where the direct shadowing effect by the surrounding mountains cannot be neglected) are reported.…”

Automatic Analysis and Classification of the Roof Surfaces for the Installation of Solar Panels Using a Multi-Data Source and Multi-Sensor Aerial Platform

“…Several techniques have been applied so far for the calculation of the solar incidence on roofs (Agugiaro et al, 2012;Agugiaro et al, 2011;Hofierka and Suri, 2002;Nguyen and Pearce, 2010) trying to find the most suitable for the installation of solar panels with optimum performance. These techniques generally use simplified models and approximations of the positions and orientations of the roofs, which could imply errors in the calculation of the solar incidence on the surfaces of the roofs causing large variations in their productivity.…”