{"id":10682,"date":"2017-03-06T16:57:20","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T15:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etalab.gouv.fr\/?p=10682"},"modified":"2019-06-18T10:40:11","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T08:40:11","slug":"building-an-open-solar-power-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preprod.etalab.gouv.fr\/building-an-open-solar-power-map","title":{"rendered":"Building an open solar power map"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
espite the introduction of financial incentives for developing \nproduction of photovoltaic (solar) power systems since 2000, France \nranks only 15th out of 28 in Europe for photovoltaic production per \ninhabitant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a comparison, Germany sets an example with production per \ninhabitant five times higher. Concerns about the selectiveness of the \nsubsidies, and the increasing burden on finances, led to a reduction in \nthe incentives after 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Germany and other countries developed solar cadastres (public \nregisters of property) to assess the potential of candidate roofs for \nsolar panel installations, such initiatives are still limited to a few \ncities in France, Brest and Paris being the most successful examples. \nThese cadastres often use a three-dimensional model of a city, requiring\n expensive data collection and treatments, and, consequently, are used \nmostly for highly populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An open solar cadastre, assessing the potential of roofs for solar \npanels covering the whole territory, would not only benefit public \nauthorities but also a whole community comprising energy providers, \npanel installers, consulting companies and homeowners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Etalab team used an innovative, cost-efficient approach combining\n open data and open algorithms, relying on external contributions to \nbuild a nationwide solar cadastre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The French land cadastre provides the contours of every structure. \nThe shape of the roof is still uncertain and visual analysis is required\n to distinguish a ridge going west to east (suitable for solar \ninstallations) from one going north to south. So, satellite and aerial \nimages covering the whole French territory with sufficient precision for\n most situations are used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Etalab took advantage of a hackathon to design and set up a \ncrowdsourcing platform with the help of enthusiastic developers. The \nplatform displays the image of a roof and the user is invited to provide\n its orientation. The platform, being fun and somewhat addictive, \nreceived 100,000 contributions in a three-week span by word of mouth. \nThis allowed us to classify 10,000 roofs with confidence. We identified \njust one case of vandalism, which was easily spotted and discarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n