Description

The estimation of the solar potential is performed as WPS set of operation, based on the reuse of existing tools and open source libraries.

The user interface will be a web browser application, with viewing (WMS) capabilities and tightly coupled with the functionality to WPS operations.

The WPS will consider the required input parameter (DTM/DSM, 2D/3D building properties, roof type, albedo, clearness coefficient, slope, aspect, etc.) and an optional clipping area where to perform/limit the calculation. The result of this service will be a map to be made available as WMS layer, with SLD legend/style according to the categories defined (e.g. not suitable // suitable). Therefore, each building will be classified on the basis of the “potential for renewable energy production” range, in kWh/sqm/day.

The estimation oof the solar potential is performed using the standard wps request. The request take as input the following information:

1. [Required] dsm: a Digital elevation model (for Portugal uses gsc:dsm_oeiras)
2. [Required] dtm: Digital terrain model (for Portugal uses gsc:dtm_oeiras)
3. [Default 3.0] lin: A single value of the Linke atmospheric turbidity coefficient
4. [Default 0.2] alb: A single value of the ground albedo coefficient
5. [Default 0.55] coefbh: A single value of the real-sky beam radiation coefficient (thick cloud)
6. [Required] start_day: Start day for calculate solar potential in this format dd/MM
7. [Optional] end_day: End day for calculate solar potential in this format dd/MM, if it isn't' suggested the end date is equal at the start date
8. [Default 0.5] step: Time step when computing all-day radiation sums [decimal hours]
9. [Defaul 1.0] dist: Sampling distance step coefficient (0.5-1.5)
10. [Required] buildings: the features representing both the “existing buildings” and the “planned buildings”, as WFS getFeature opearation
11. [Default 1] bufferArea: Meters for buffered area. Infact the “area of interest” where to perform the estimation: this will be automatically calculated using the bounding box of the features contained in the uploaded “future” buildings dataset; the bounding box will be buffered by XXX meters, and the buffer area will be taken to clip the original DSM
12. [Optional/Required] email: email address for notifications when the service ends

The buildings must be uploaded using Upload of future buildings and edited with the wfs-t: the user should decide if the new features will be confirmed or removed using the attribute lifespan_end. Then it is necessary indicate in the wps request, for building, a CQL_FILTER with lifespan_end null and an optional lifespan_beginning (if you want filter for the upload date)

Example for buildings

<wps:Input> <ows:Identifier>buildings</ows:Identifier> <wps:Reference mimeType="application/json" xlink:href=http://hub.geosmartcity.eu/geoserver/gsc/ows?service=WFS&amp;version=1.0.0&amp;request=GetFeature&amp;typeName=gsc:buildings_3763&amp;outputFormat=application/json&amp;CQL_FILTER=lifespan_beginning=%271460455135732%27and%20lifespan_end%20is%20null method="GET" /> </wps:Input>

As result of the computation a getMap request is returned with the url for the raster.

Test case

To test the process click this link http://hub.geosmartcity.eu/test-wps/ and choose "Solar potential calculation". If you want to receive an email when the process ends: in the first input-text you must write the email address. For know the progress for the process it is possible to click the link "Verify status".