SOLAR POTENTIAL IN CITYSCAPES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59627/cbens.2016.1803Keywords:
Solar photovoltaic energy, urban environment, building facadesAbstract
The solar resource is indubitably an energy source to consider when thinking about electricity production in the future. Especially when it concerns the power supply to large cities, where the largest amount of energy is consumed. Due to the topographical and morphological characteristics of urban environments, buildings are subject to dynamic shading phenomena, thus it is essential to understand how the incident solar radiation varies and in where the higher solar potential spots will be located in a city. In this study we employed the solar potential model SOL to estimate the photovoltaic potential in three distinct areas located in Lisbon, Portugal, and fourth one in Geneva, Switzerland. In two of the addressed areas it turns out that the total potential in facades exceeds 50% of the total potential, while in the other two areas the total contribution via the façades would be sufficient to almost double the total solar potential. Considering only the points where the radiation exceeds 900 kWh/m2/year, it is in Lisbon that facades play an important role, featuring a potential that overcomes 150 kWh/year per unit of built area.
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