EO data for the Renewable Energy industry

Background

Earth Observation (EO) satellites routinely provide a variety of geo-information data, which can be exploited in the siting and management of renewable energy plants. In order to promote the use of EO data in the renewable energy industry, the Earth Observation Market Development section of ESA will be funding an international project strengthening the development of an EO-based service providing support to renewable energy activities.

A workshop was held in ESRIN (Frascati near Rome) on Mon 23 June & Tue 24 June to explore how Earth Observation can be more effectively used in wind, solar and large hydro energy activities.

About 30 representatives of large energy companies/utilities (e.g. plants designers, electricity providers, engineers, energy specialists) and the EO service industry (e.g. value-adding companies, service providers, satellite experts) have been invited to present their ideas and explore the potential for collaboration.

Objectives

The workshop aimed to:

• Inform energy businesses of present and projected EO capabilities.
• Understand industry operational processes and the potential role of EO.
• Identify opportunities and blockages for better exploitation of EO in the renewable energy business.
• Assess the need for geo-information data and models in wind, large hydro and solar energy.
• Promote an active dialogue between the different actors in order to facilitate future collaboration.

Main outcome of the workshop

Renewable energy industry:

• Increased awareness of how EO can help support building and managing of renewable energy plants.
• Increased interest in using the EOMD funding opportunity to explore the commercial potential of satellite data in industry practises.

EO service industry:

• Initiation of a dialogue with the energy industry
• Establishment of new contacts with potential partners.

ESA:

• Gathering of sensible technical inputs to scope the ESA/EOMD long-term ITT.
• Introduction of a new line on renewable energy within the ESA/EOMD short-term Market Driver ITT.

Potential usefulness of EO for renewable energy activities:

EO satellites provide long-term time series and NRT consistent measurements of a variety of geophysical parameters such as meteorological conditions, surface properties and environmental factors. It has been shown during the workshop that EO data are potentially useful to support building and management of renewable energy plants (see summary Table below). In particular, the main advantage of EO data compared to traditional methods based on local in-situ measurements is their global nature, which enables to capture the spatio-temporal variability of the measured field.

Wind	Solar	Hydro
Energy resource assessment
Wind field data over the ocean can be derived from active microwave instruments at a resolution of 50km with Scatterometer (SCAT) and 100m with Synthetic Aperture radar (SAR). Satellite-derived wind data are mainly useful for strategic resource assessment as the long revisit time of satellites (1.5.d) and poor resolution limits their use in operational management of wind farms. Furthermore, high-resolution model data are needed to derive wind direction from SAR data.	Global map of surface solar irradiance can be derived from meteorological satellites (e.g. Meteosat Second Generation) every 15mins with a resolution of 3km. These data are very valuable to help identifying optimal location for solar plants and assessing their operational performances.	Snow data can be derived from optical instruments (e.g. MERIS, AVHRR) with a medium resolution of 1km. These data are useful to quantify river run-off and reservoir potential but their operational exploitation is limited by the presence of clouds. Altimeter data can also be useful to map out the hydrological network and quantify the reservoir height but this application is still in its infancy
Ancillary geophysical data for modelling
Wave data can be derived from altimeter and SAR sensors and provide useful information for quantifying wave/wind interactions. Land roughness data can be derived from SAR sensors and be useful to quantify the wind shear in the boundary layer.	Data on atmospheric constituents (e.g. aerosol, water vapour, ozone) can be derived from meteorological satellites. These data are needed to quantify the atmospheric correction in order to improve accuracy of solar irradiance. Terrain elevation can be measured from space and is needed to compute the influence of air mass and surroundings (e.g. far horizon lines).	/
Environmental impact analysis and risks assessment
Data on biological activity (e.g. plankton distribution, vegetation) and water quality (e.g. sediment) can be derived from optical instruments and provide useful information on the environmental impact of the plant.	/	Interferometric techniques based on SAR (e.g. InSAR) are useful to quantify the stability of the land and thereby assess the structural and landslide risks.

Agenda

Mon 23 June			Speakers	Session
11:00	-	11:30	Steve Coulson (ESA/EOMD)	Presentation of objectives of the ITT for renewable energy industry	(talk)
Review of Industry operational processes and geo information needs
11:30	-	12:00	Bart Boesmans (TRACTEBEL)	Wind	(talk)
12:00	-	12:30	Ian Shepanik (AMEC)	Wind	(talk)
12:30	-	13:00	Murray Cameron (EPIA)	Solar	(talk)
13:00	-	14:00		Lunch
14:00	-	14:15	Roxane Zarvat (ESPACE EOLIEN)	Wind	(talk)
14:15	-	14:30	Christof Stork (GARRAD HASSAN)	Wind	(talk)
Review of EO capabilities and service precursors
14:30	-	15:00	Anders Rognes (NR)	Hydro	(talk)
15:00	-	15:30	Alison Houghton (HR WALLINGFORD)	Wind	(talk)
15:30	-	16:00		Coffee Break
16:00	-	16:30	Charlotte Hasager (RISOE)	Wind	(talk)
16:30	-	17:00	Marion Schroedter (DLR)	Solar	(talk)
17:00	-	17:15	Ewan Dunlop (JRC)	Solar	(talk)
17:15	-	17:30	Daniel Ruoss (ENECOLO)	Solar	(talk)
17:30	-	17:45	Gerd Heishler (METEOCONTROL)	Solar	(talk)
Tue 24 June
Sub-group discussion to shape the ITT
09:00	-	10:00	Plenary discussion	Session 1: Review prototype services.Services available today? Data needs? Support working practices?	(talk)
10:00	-	10:15		Coffee Break
10:15	-	11:00	Plenary discussion	Session 2: Blockages & Opportunities Issues for market uptake of services? Strategy to overcome them?	(talk)
11:00	-	11:30	Plenary discussion	Session 3: Partnership EO / Energy Industry How to build-up effective teams with complementary expertise?	(talk)
11:00	-	11:30	Plenary discussion	Session 4: Industry investment Level and form of contribution from the energy industry?	(talk)
EOMD session in the Industry briefing
12:00	-	12:30	Steve Coulson (ESA/EOMD)	Objectives of EOMD programme and ITT	(talk)
12:30	-	13:00	Gordon Campbell (ESA/EOMD)	Market Drivers	(talk)
13:00	-	14:00		Lunch
Discussions and Conclusions
14:30	-	15:00	Plenary discussion	Synthesis of industry requirements	n/a
15:00	-	15:30	Pierre-Philippe Mathieu (ESA/EOMD)	Conclusions and future prospects	(talk)

List of Participants

Name	Organisation
Michel Albuisson	ENSMP (FR)
Bart Boesmans	TRACETBEL (BE)
Richard Boud	AEAT (UK)
Murray Cameron	EPIA - SONNESTROM (DE)
Herve Colin	CEA (FR)
Ian Brown	NATGEO (SE)
Manuel Cendagorta	ITER (ES)
Colleen Dolan	INFOTERRA (UK)
Ewan Dunlop	EC - JRC (INT)
Geraldine Fitoussi	ALTAMIRA INFORMATION (FR)
Giorgio Franchioni	ENEL (IT)
Daniele Galardini	TRASYS (BE)
Eric Gontier	SPACEBEL (BE)
Charlotte Hasager	RISOE (DK)
Rob Hastings	NITEX (UK)
Detlev Heinemann	UNI-OLDENBURG (DE)
Alison Houghton	HR WALLINGFORD (UK)
Carsten Hoyer	DLR (DE)
Gerd Heilscherg	METEOCONTROL (DE)
Susanne Lehner	DLR (DE)
Thierry Ranchin	ENSMP (FR)
Roger Robinson	QINETIQ (UK)
Anders Rognes	NR (NO)
Daniel Ruoss	ENECOLO (CH)
Tarcisio Sartini	SARTELCO (IT)
Marion Schroedter	DLR (DE)
Ian Shepanik	AMEC (CA)
Christof Stork	GARRADHASSAN (UK)
Francesco Trezza	ENEL (IT)
Roberto Vigoti	ENEL (IT)
Alessandro Voli	TELESPAZIO (IT)
Luis Zarzalejo	CIEMAT (ES)
Roxane Zadvat	ESPACE EOLIEN (FR)