London council prioritises solar sites with automated assessments
10 June 2020
by Sarah Wray
Automated analysis of geospatial data has helped the London Borough of Lambeth pinpoint where it could most effectively deploy solar panels to help meet the council’s climate goals.
Lambeth is one of many councils in the UK and globally that have declared a climate emergency. It is aiming to become carbon-neutral by 2030.
Spatial data specialist Energeo assessed almost 100,000 buildings and identified 40,000 sites that are suitable for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. The company uses automated techniques to extract detailed information from data sources and provide snapshots for individual properties relating to the roof size and pitch, solar yield, revenue potential, CO2 savings and listed building status.
The analysis revealed over 1,325,000 m2 of suitable unused roof area.
“To gather this data by manual rooftop surveys would have been expensive and taken many months,” commented Matthew Browning, Sustainability Officer, London Borough of Lambeth. “Energeo delivered a comprehensive analysis within a few weeks, which has given us the ability to make a strong business case for funding and an evidence base – using payback thresholds – for prioritising investment.”
The net financial benefit over a 20-year lifetime could be up to £179 million (US$229 million), based on electricity savings, export revenue and installation costs, Energeo estimates.
Low-carbon technologies
Energeo says its automated algorithms can assess the solar potential of a roof in less than a second.
Ian Dee, chief executive, Energeo, commented: “Combining sources such as satellite imagery with digital mapping and other datasets provides granular location information that can help us to choose the best sites for other low-carbon technologies such as heat pumps and electric vehicle infrastructure as well as solar PV.”
Lambeth Council will now look at allocating funding for structural surveys at sites it owns and operates, and use the data to inform its Citizens’ Assembly.
Energeo also works with UK councils such as Bournemouth, Luton and Oxfordshire.
