{"id":332871,"date":"2020-04-21T05:34:39","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T12:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=wherenext&p=332871"},"modified":"2024-05-10T06:36:27","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T13:36:27","slug":"advanced-analytics-fuel-renewable-energy","status":"publish","type":"wherenext","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/advanced-analytics-fuel-renewable-energy","title":{"rendered":"How Advanced Analytics Is Fueling Renewable Energy"},"author":501,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[455201,1031,381322],"tags":[161212,163392,287922],"department":[476822,488822],"wherenext-category":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-332871","wherenext","type-wherenext","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-climate-of-change","category-natural-resources","category-sustainability","tag-market-development","tag-solar","tag-wind","department-data-and-ai","department-sustainability-risk"],"acf":{"short_description":"Go inside two energy companies to see what cost-benefit analysis looks like when assessing a renewables project.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The US\u00a0may have withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, but as global concern about climate change grows, countries and companies worldwide remain committed to reducing carbon emissions. Energy leaders are rebalancing their portfolios to include renewable sources such as wind and solar, and pure-play firms continue to build their businesses on alternative sources of energy. Both are using location technology to drive profitable investments in this new energy landscape by cross-referencing cost data with factors such as ocean depth, wind speeds, and sun exposure."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Article Snapshot:<\/strong> Motivated by changing buyer preferences and climate pressures, energy companies are using advanced analytics to assess everything from ocean depth and road networks to ROI as they expand their renewable energy portfolios.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Even in the midst of an economic slowdown prompted by COVID-19, industry experts predict a healthy future for the renewables sector. Boston University professor Peter Fox-Penner wrote in late March that he expects a short-term contraction in the sector followed by a return to steady growth<\/a>. And on April 11 the CEO of Siemens, which manufactures energy technology, said the company continues to shift its business to the realities of the industry, which include a reduction in coal and gas-based energy<\/a> and an increase in renewable sources.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, the cost of renewables is dropping, and the pace of adoption is building. As more projects have been developed over time, more players have joined the market, driving down prices for producers and customers. The International Renewable Energy Agency\u2019s 2018 prediction<\/a> that renewable energy will be consistently cheaper than traditional fossil fuels by the end of 2020 looks to be on track<\/a>.\r\n\r\nLarge established energy producers, such as Equinor of Norway, as well as firms like Renewable Energy Systems (RES) are seeing surging customer demand for renewable energy.\r\n\r\nCorporate customers are getting into the act, too, entering agreements directly with renewable power producers to meet sustainability pledges, raising their profiles among eco-aware consumers. \u201cThe big retail stores and web giants are signing more and more contracts, because it enhances their green credentials, and it's in their financial benefit to do so,\u201d says Andy Oliver, CTO at RES, which has inked deals with Google, Microsoft, and other large companies to provide cleaner power. That trend is one aspect of a broader shift toward corporate social responsibility<\/a>.\r\n\r\nWhen lower bills go along with doing good for the environment<\/a>, so much the better. Lower cost is indeed now a major driver of renewables. \u201cNot everyone takes the climate threat seriously,\u201d Oliver says. \u201cHowever, paying less for something is usually something that everyone can agree on.\" The pressure is on energy companies to find the most cost-efficient ways to produce renewable power so that everyone wins. For many energy producers, location intelligence<\/a>, fueled by sophisticated analysis from a geographic information system (GIS), is an essential means of ensuring they make the right development decisions.\r\n

Putting Renewables on the Map<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nRES bills itself as the world\u2019s largest independent renewable energy company, with a presence in North America, western and northern Europe, Turkey, and Australia\u201410 countries in all. To date, RES has developed or constructed projects that produce about 17,000 megawatts, which would power a country the size of Poland. Most of that energy comes from wind due to its historically low cost. But solar is increasingly taking a larger share in most of the company\u2019s markets, as solar technology costs have fallen precipitously, Oliver says.\r\n\r\nThere is a lot of money at stake. Typical US wind and solar projects run in the $100 million to $300 million range. Counterintuitively, the cheapest piece of land might not translate into the most valuable site. Many more factors affect the decision of where to put a particular project.\r\n\r\nLike many companies, RES relies on location intelligence across multiple phases of its business\u2014from assessing the viability of a project site to making construction faster, safer, and more accurate."},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":332811,"text":"We use location intelligence at pretty much every stage of the development and construction of our projects.","author_name":"Lisa Tunnell, GIS Solutions Manager, RES","author_profession_organization":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

The Cutting Edge of Project Assessment \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThese days, RES is making siting decisions for renewables projects more quickly and accurately than in the past. It uses GIS technology to track highly granular location information for solar and wind projects (such as airspace considerations, terrain slope, wind speeds, flood plains, proximity to power lines, soil composition, and setbacks from existing infrastructure) in conjunction with cost data. GIS-generated location intelligence helps RES pinpoint the right site with the highest return on investment."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Cutting-Edge Analysis\u2014The Cost of Solar vs. Wind<\/strong>\r\n\r\nRES recently completed a project to learn whether solar or wind is more competitive in each of its markets worldwide. The challenge: Use GIS analysis to determine how much energy would have been produced by each source at more than half a million locations around the globe.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt's basically a weather forecast that you run backwards in time to understand what would've happened in terms of either wind production or solar production,\u201d RES\u2019s Andy Oliver says of the big data project.\r\n\r\nThe result, in Oliver\u2019s words: \u201cWe now have a map, for example, of the United States that tells us, for any point, is wind more competitive at that location or is solar more competitive at that location?\u201d","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cHaving all that information available at the very beginning of a project will end up saving us time and money later by avoiding investment in bad sites\u201d Oliver says.\r\n\r\nBy leveraging location technology<\/a>, he says, developers can understand in advance how much energy a site might produce, and then work with counterparts in the construction group to determine the building costs. \u201cAll of that goes in a financial model\u2014all those costs and energy inputs\u2014and that tells you what the cost of power is going to be,\u201d says Oliver.\r\n\r\nRoughly 50 people at RES use GIS. Teams work together to review locations for potential projects. Project managers review maps of permitting requirements (such as protected-wildlife areas) and degree of landowner interest, while specialists take a deeper look from a technical standpoint.\r\n\r\nA wind project, for example, requires engineers to map the elevation and slope of an area. If the slope is too steep, the top of the turbine will not be reachable by crane, making it unworkable.\r\n\r\nA committed innovator, RES is using drones, geospatial data, and smart construction equipment to save time and increase accuracy when digging, surveying sites down to the sub-centimeter.\r\n\r\nThe team creates a digital model of the surface of the project from drone imagery, upon which it bases drawings for the project, Oliver says. \u201cWe combine these two things into a file that can be read by a modern dozer or excavator.\u201d For example, as an operator drives the dozer, \u201cit's reading where the surface should be, and it's moving its bucket up and down or side to side to make the surface that was envisioned in the drawing.\u201d\r\n\r\nWhen digging a foundation for a wind turbine, location awareness helps the excavator reach the exact target depth, so the bucket will scoop the right amount of earth each time. Oliver says RES can save up to 40 percent of the time it used to take to dig a foundation and can avoid costly mistakes such as over-excavation and the subsequent need to back-fill. GIS helps RES operate much more efficiently, from a time and cost standpoint."},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":332851,"text":"One of the main things that we use location intelligence for is site selection\u2014being able to have all of the different layers on a map and view the wetlands and critical habitat, all of those layers put together.","author_name":"Lisa Tunnell, RES","author_profession_organization":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Powering Self-Service Maps<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nIn a world that is moving (albeit slowly) to reduce carbon emissions, midstream and upstream oil and gas provider Equinor is expanding its portfolio into renewable energy\u2014primarily offshore wind projects\u2014in their transformation to a diversified energy company. Like RES, Equinor uses location intelligence driven by GIS to guide siting decisions.\r\n\r\n\u201cNot very long ago, if people wanted maps for their reports, they would have had to call the mapping department,\u201d says Henrik Hagness, leading engineer for mapping at Equinor. But now, many professionals can handle their own queries<\/a> using tailored interactive maps, driving a major increase in productivity and data-based decisions."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Renewable Energy at a Glance<\/strong>\r\n