16th October 2008

3TIER, one of the world’s largest independent providers of assessment and forecasting of renewable energy, has released what they claim is the first comprehensive, contiguous and high-resolution solar map for the entire Western Hemisphere.

“To produce this map, 3TIER developed a dataset that is approximately three times the resolution of existing industry solar data standards for the United States,” said Kenneth Westrick, 3TIER CEO and founder of the Seattle-based company.

“This is the first and only database of the solar resource that covers all of North, Central and South America,” Westrick said. “Not many organizations have the expertise and super-computing resources to synthesize such massive amounts of historical satellite data or a tool like 3TIER’s FirstLook to present the data in a simple and elegant way.”

“Development of this solar map is another important milestone in 3TIER’s ‘REmapping the World ’ initiative, which is intended to accelerate the adoption and integration of renewable energies worldwide,” Westrick said. “If we want developing nations to ‘leapfrog’ over fossil fuels, they need information about what renewable energy resources or combination of resources exist. REmapping the World is a sophisticated mapping technology initiative to show where renewable resources are, and change the way we look at the world’s energy production options.

“Our maps are providing the critical information that has been missing to make renewable energy a viable choice – and resolve the issues around the availability, accessibility and useability of global renewable resource information. The maps provide enough resolution so countries and organizations can begin to look at the potential wind and solar resources at a regional level.”

The solar map is based on 11 years of half-hourly high resolution (roughly 1 km) visible satellite imagery that has been processed to create 11 years of hourly values of Global Horizontal Irradiation (GHI), Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI) and Diffuse Irradiation (DI) at a horizontal resolution of roughly 3 kilometers.

Based on this solar dataset, 3TIER customers can purchase basic or comprehensive reports that contain more detailed solar site analyses.

Meanwhile CH2M HILL has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to help 25 American cities accelerate the adoption of solar energy. The contract is an important strategic component of The Solar America Initiative, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) effort to make solar electricity from photovoltaics (PV) cost competitive with conventional forms of electricity from the utility grid by 2015. Under the three-year, $5.5 million contract, CH2M HILL's IT Consulting and Spatial Information Management practices will work alongside the DOE and officials from 25 cities taking part in the DOE's Solar America Cities program, to eliminate market barriers to adoption and debut new solar solutions.

According to Tom Kimbis, director of the Solar America Cities program, "DOE's Solar America Cities Program is helping our cities accelerate the adoption of clean, solar energy technologies. With technical assistance, cities will have expert assistance to overcome market and technical barriers."

Contracted through separate task orders, CH2M HILL will work with the DOE and officials in each city to create customized programs that encompass solar engineering, financial modeling studies, zoning code revisions, structural engineering analysis, emergency management operations using solar power, site selection for solar arrays, and installer certification and training. The contract follows a seven-month pilot program.

The CH2M HILL solutions, such as solar maps and portals, radically impact everyday citizens' ability to understand, evaluate and adopt solar energy in their homes and places of business. For instance, CH2M HILL's Solar Portals combine aerial imagery with advanced 3-D modeling, allowing entire cities to be mapped rooftop by rooftop in a matter of weeks. Once CH2M HILL and the city host the solar map of the city on a Solar Portal, residents can easily log on, view their rooftops, calculate the available square footage for panels, mock up solar panel placement, estimate how much money they will save and choose from a listing of available installers. Residents can also see whether any of their neighbors have adopted solar energy and which buildings in town have solar applications and get detailed information on tax rebates.

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