New tool helps map out where to develop clean energy infrastructure

Geospatial Energy Mapper is an online interactive mapping tool that can help identify areas across the country suitable for clean energy, solar and wind energy, and solar infrastructure projects. is different.

It can be difficult to remember, or for some to even imagine, what life was like before most of us carried a dynamic mapping platform in our back pocket. Being able to quickly map out the most efficient route by car, bike or on foot has become second nature. What if the same principle of having an accessible and easy-to-use tool could be applied to mapping energy infrastructure?

Geospatial Energy Mapper (GEM) is a comprehensive, interactive online mapping tool that can help identify areas across the country suitable for wind, solar, etc. First launched to the public in 2013 called the Energy Area Mapper (EZMT), GEM has been redesigned, rebranded, and restructured.

“In GEM, we applied the lessons learned from the nearly 10 years of the EZMT organization, including making it easy to learn and use,” said Jim Kuiper, chief geospatial engineer at GEM. more, update the software architecture and choose a name that matches its current scope of use”. technical coordinator.

GEM provides a rich catalog of map data. This includes energy and infrastructure sources as well as other information that may influence energy infrastructure location decisions. With over 190 different map layers—including demographics, boundaries, and utilities—users can locate areas for clean power generation, electric vehicle charging stations, and more.

One of the new features is the mapping theme, which allows for quick mapping for a specific focus, such as solar, wind or electric vehicles. This new feature helps users to quickly load multiple layers related to a specific technology or resource without having to manually browse the map catalog and add individual layers to the map.

With GEM’s modeling capabilities, users can create custom fit maps or “heat maps”. This map shows the geographic areas in the United States that are favorable to the development of certain energy resources and infrastructure. GEM includes preconfigured models for more than 40 types of energy infrastructure. Land-based wind turbines or utility-scale photovoltaic solar power are two examples. This provides a convenient starting point that can then be easily customized by the user.

Michael Levin, a GEM user and Ph.D. students studying the renewable energy landscape at Columbia University. “GEM not only makes publicly available energy-matched maps, but also allows users to customize the model used to create such a map.”

GEM has nearly 100 modeling criteria to choose from. Population density, distance to the nearest substation, slope, wildfire risk, and the proportion of low-income households are just a few examples. nine kinds energy sources can be analyzed to develop clean energy sources. These include biomass, coal (with carbon capture and sequestration), geothermal, nature Airnuclear, solar, storage, water and wind.

GEM is expected to have a diverse user community just like EZMT. This tool has been used by planners and managers at all levels of government. For example, Kentucky’s Office of Energy Policy used EZMT to prototype Solar site suitability on Landmine Reclamation tool. Other users include private industry, public service commissions and regional transmission organizations. Finally, national laboratories, educational institutions, energy and natural resource nonprofits, and individuals are all EZMT users.