Solar City Research Articles

Determinants of Non-Hydro Renewable Energy Consumption in China’s Provincial Regions

This study investigates the determinants of non-hydro renewable energy (NHRE) consumption across 31 provincial regions in China, spanning from 2015 to 2022. Utilizing fixed effects and moderating effects, the research analyzes the impacts of research and development intensity (RDI), urbanization (UR), and human capital (HC) on NHRE consumption (NHREC). Additionally, the moderating roles of industrial structure (IS) and tax (TA) are examined, along with control variables such as informationization and economic development. The findings reveal that increased RDI significantly boosts NHREC by enhancing technological advancements. UR also positively affects NHREC, particularly in rapidly urbanizing regions, while HC provides a skilled workforce that drives renewable energy projects. However, the study identifies that concentrated industrial structures and high taxes can negatively moderate these positive impacts, highlighting the complex interplay of these factors. Policy recommendations include creating “Renewable Energy Innovation Hubs” in underdeveloped regions to attract startups and researchers, developing “Solar Cities” with mandated solar panels on all buildings, and introducing a “Carbon Offset Lottery” to incentivize investments in renewable energy.

A Case Study: Tesla's Acquisition of Solar City

This paper analyzes Tesla's acquisition of Solar City in 2016 with the purpose of comprehensively evaluating the positive and negative impacts of this acquisition on Tesla. First, this article will introduce acquisition, a common means of business operation in the process of company development. Combined with the basic concept of acquisition, the paper analyzes the details of the typical acquisition case of Tesla's acquisition of Sun City. From the background of both companies, it mainly studies the main revenue mode and the main revenue source of the acquirer and the target company. Next, this paper will evaluate the benefits and disadvantages that the changes brought by the acquisition will bring to the company based on other acquisition cases. Then, this paper uses the SWOT model to analyze the motivation for Tesla's acquisition of SolarCity. After that, this paper will comprehensively evaluate the acquisition of Tesla from two perspectives. Finally, this article will synthesize all the above content of this acquisition to summarize.

GIScience can facilitate the development of solar cities for energy transition

The energy transition is increasingly being discussed and implemented to cope with the growing environmental crisis. However, great challenges remain for effectively harvesting and utilizing solar energy in cities related to time and location-dependant supply and demand, which needs more accurate forecasting- and an in-depth understanding of the electricity production and dynamic balancing of the flexible energy supplies concerning the electricity market. To tackle this problem, this article discusses the development of solar cities over the past few decades and proposes a refined and enriched concept of a sustainable solar city with six integrated modules, namely, land surface solar irradiation, three-dimensional (3D) urban surfaces, spatiotemporal solar distribution on 3D urban surfaces, solar photovoltaic (PV) planning, solar PV penetration into different urban systems, and the consequent socio-economic and environmental impacts. In this context, Geographical Information Science (GIScience) demonstrates its potent capability in building the conceptualized solar city with a dynamic balance between power supply and demand over time and space, which includes the production of multi-sourced spatiotemporal big data, the development of spatiotemporal data modelling, analysing and optimization, and geo-visualization. To facilitate the development of such a solar city, this article from the GIScience perspective discusses the achievements and challenges of (i) the development of spatiotemporal big data used for solar farming, (ii) the estimation of solar PV potential on 3D urban surfaces, (iii) the penetration of distributed PV systems in digital cities that contains the effects of urban morphology on solar accessibility, optimization of PV systems for dynamic balancing between supply and demand, and PV penetration represented by the solar charging of urban mobility, and (iv) the interaction between PV systems and urban thermal environment. We suggest that GIScience is the foundation, while further development of GIS models is required to achieve the proposed sustainable solar city.

Urban energy systems in India :

The fossil fuel-based energy systems require accelerated transitioning towards renewable energy provisions in order to reduce carbon emissions. Urban energy systems are commonly called sociotechnological systems, that have interconnections with the political, environmental, and economic landscape of the urban areas. These inter-sectoral linkages, the constant evolution of stakeholder's priorities and relationships, and their conflicting objectives in the urban energy landscape make urban energy systems a complex system. Asserting the need to comprehend the challenges of transitioning towards sustainable energy systems, it appears desirable to view urban energy systems as complex systems. Based on recent literature on urban energy systems and complex systems thinking, the paper initially discusses the characteristics of urban energy systems. It aims to demonstrate the relationship of urban energy systems with social, technological, environmental, political, and economic aspects of urban areas. It further emphasizes the need and the approaches to recognise urban energy systems as complex systems due to the presence of factors, such as multiple stakeholders, the interconnectedness of the agents, changing dynamics, and adaptive processes in the systems. This paper takes the case study of the city setting of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, and considers its urban Solar City Master Plan to better understand the essence of complex energy systems. Against this background, the aim of the paper is to understand the application of complexity economics and systems thinking to the transition of urban energy systems from fossil fuels to renewables. In addition, the paper intends to explore how examining the urban energy systems through the lens of complexity economics and systems thinking can be valuable in formulating policy interventions towards sustainable urban energy transitions.

A spatial analysis of techno-economic feasibility of solar cities of India using Electricity System Sustainability Index

Numerous schemes with solar incentives are introduced by the Government of India to promote the adoption of solar energy technologies in Indian cities. However, the success rate of this program in the selected pilot cities needs to be explored and analyzed. Therefore, this study identifies the resources which may facilitate or obstruct the performance of the solar cities of India. This study was conducted to add a new index value to the literature to assess the regional demand analysis of the nation's future electricity scenario with the help of a hybrid power generation and distribution system. Here, the solar hotspots of India are mapped, not only focusing on the geographical aspects of the region but also with respect to the existing solar energy policies, technology, electricity system, and the economic capacity of the cities. Additionally, a sustainability index of the electricity supply system for each city was formulated to benchmark cities based on their sustainable power generation and distribution system. Finally, TOPSIS approach was used to determine the solar cities with the highest technical and economic potential to fulfil the targets of the solar city mission successfully. The assessment of the technical and economic potential analysis from the dataset indicates that the cities situated in the north, the central and western parts of India have better opportunities to harness solar energy than cities of the north-east, east and southern India. Cities like Leh, Amritsar, Gandhinagar, Indore, Aurangabad, Bhopal, Nagpur, and Raipur, situated along the north-west-central India are highly desirable to attract investors to disseminate solar energy technologies in these cities, thereby highlighting the possible directions of future investments in the solar cities of India. The Electricity System Sustainability Index (ESSI) gives an overview of the extent of sustainability achieved in terms of number of new connections, cost variability, economic productivity, energy losses, power availability during peak hours, and the renewable energy generation capacity of the system. It was observed that cities with better economic performance and environmentally sustainable have performed better in ESSI and are more inclined towards adopting hybrid mode of electricity generation.

Estimation of integrated photovoltaics potential for solar city bus in different climate conditions in Europe

In order to improve primary energy saving and reduce greenhouse emissions, vehicle integrated photovoltaics have an ongoing interest. Studies on the benefits from vehicle solar roof, which take into account all the losses and the monthly variation in different climate conditions, are required. Therefore, we developed a simulation tool of the mileage covered by VIPV. This tool takes into account various use profiles and different characteristics of the vehicles and of the PV system. Focusing on city bus, simulations show that many parameters influence the outputs of the model, mainly: the geographic location, the shading losses, the electric architecture and the battery saturation. With projections of the technology in 2030, VIPV cover up to 9739 km annual mileage. This represents up to 24 % of the total distance. For the best month, it can get up to 47 km/day. For average Europe case, with 30 % shading losses, the VIPV cover only 3711 km annual mileage. The upgrade of the technology from 2022 to 2030 improves the benefits of VIPV by approximately 34 %. Life cycle assessment of solar city bus shows neutral to high gains. The carbon footprint is up to 28 T CO2-equivalent avoided emissions on 20 years lifespan.

A sustainable solar city: From utopia to reality facilitated by GIScience

A sustainable solar city: From utopia to reality facilitated by GIScience

IoT based solar energy monitoring system

Abstract The Internet of Things has a vision of the internet permeating every aspect of our daily lives, with internet-enabled items playing a prominent role. The IoT makes it possible for things to be sensed or controlled remotely, using existing network infrastructure, resulting in increased efficiency, accuracy, and economic gain in addition to decreased human involvement. There are a wide variety of possible uses for this technology, including Solar cities, Smart villages, Microgrids, and Solar street lighting. As This time period was the most successful in history for renewable energy, with the growth rate being much higher than before. The method mentioned here talks about displaying the energy consumption of solar power on the internet as a renewable energy. The surveillance of this location is performed using a raspberry pi utilising Flask framework. Daily use of renewable energy is tracked via Smart Monitoring This makes it easier for the user to understand how much energy they are using. Renewable energy use and power problems are both affected by analysis.

Efektywność ekonomiczna fotowoltaiki dla prosumentów energii

1. Byrne et al. 2017 – Byrne, J., Taminiau, J., Kim, K.N., Lee, J. and Seo, J. 2017. Multivariate analysis of solar city economics: impact of energy prices, policy, finance, and cost on urban photovoltaic power plant implementation. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, e241, DOI: 10.1002/wene.241. CrossRef Google Scholar

Teotihuacán as a solar city in its graphic representation

AbstractIn this work, we present a proposal for the identification of the origin of the name of the pre‐Columbian urban center of Teotihuacan, the city of gods, based on its toponym structured in geographic accidents or the work of its inhabitants. A historical investigation was carried out, contrasted with an ethnohistorical work and, finally, a series of field observations. We concluded that the name Teotihuacán corresponds to the image registered in the Codex Xólotl, corresponding to a real, observable and measurable event, which is the sunrise located behind the three main buildings of the city, on certain dates of the year, which tells us that the entire city was designed, thought and planned on basis of the sun′s movement in the sky. This is not a new fact, frequently observed in other ancient sites in Mesoamerica. However, in the particular case of Teotihuacan, these events were of such importance and so unique that they lead us do not to discard the idea that the city constituted a great stone clock and a stone calendar, and that it was an unique mark for all inhabitants of the central plateau of Mesoamerica during the classical period. And that even in the post‐classical period it was still remembered precisely as such, as the City of the Sun, a singular place where one can perfectly see the solar alignments at different periods of the year, which are also related to the dry or rainy seasons of the central plateau, associated with the corresponding agricultural cycles. And this leads us to conjecture that the Teotihuacan knowledge of astronomy and agricultural cycles was an important mark of this city, bringing together all the knowledge in turn gathered in these fields by the other civilizations of Mesoamerica.

Feasibility assessment of solar photovoltaic deployments on building surfaces with the constraint of visual impacts

As a major component of social acceptance, visual impact is often considered a significant constraint in solar applications. Visual impact assessment of solar applications, however, has been limited to pedestrians in previous studies. The extent to which PV systems can have visual impacts on occupants and whether it is necessary to include occupants in the measurement of visual impact remains uncertain. To fill this gap, we extended it from pedestrians to occupants and proposed a quantitative method to integrate pedestrians and occupants into a framework, combining the estimation of solar potential for the feasibility assessment of PV applications in a built environment. The concept is tested with a real case, located in Qingdao city, China, to present the technical flowchart for the feasibility assessment of solar PV deployments with the visual constraint. Building surfaces with qualified solar irradiation and low visibility were identified and compared in two cases, that is, with and without the inclusion of occupants as the visual constraint. The comparison results show that the change of suitable building surfaces for solar applications is 172,306 m2 (21% of suitable area) and 126 GWh (19% of yield energy) across the study area, indicating the significance of including occupants in the visibility assessment for the deployment of solar applications. The proposed method considers the visual constraint for the feasibility assessment of solar applications from the perspective of pedestrians and occupants, and it is helpful to identify the suitable surfaces for the large-scale deployment of solar applications at an early planning stage of solar city.

A MULTI-CRITERIA GIS BASED ANALYTICAL HIERARCHICAL APPROACH FOR SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC FARM SITE SELECTION IN THE KOLKATA METROPOLITAN AREA, INDIA

Abstract. A smart solar city ensures smart energy resilient future, low emissions and sustainable development of cities through networked infrastructure. This study aims to determine suitable locations for solar farm development in Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA), India, which may help the decision makers to plan resource allocation for smart renewable energy development efficiently. Numerous criteria were considered while simulating the model, including solar irradiation, distance from power substation, distance from major roads, land cover distribution, mainly canals, vacant land, urban green zones, and agricultural land. Built-up residential spaces and protected zones were however, no considered. The analysis suggests that wetlands, canals, and a major portion of open vacant land in the outskirts of the KMA are most suitable for investment in solar photovoltaics infrastructure. The present study covers different aspects of solar city planning to determine the suitable locations, which when accompanied by careful onsite investigation and meticulous planning will help decision makers and planners to design an efficient solar energy plan for the deployment of necessary infrastructure and technologies in cities.

Daegu’s Convention Legacies are Contributing to Climate Change Solutions

This submission is derived from the “Business Event Legacies in Daegu, Korea” which was commissioned by the Daegu Business Events District. This report sponsored by the Daegu Metropolitan City and Daegu Convention & Visitors Bureau (Daegu CVB) illustrates legacies from five business events which were held in their city. Data for the report was compiled and researched by Prof. Jun Soo-hyun, Prof. Oh Ik-geun (Department of Tourism Management, Keimyung University), and Dr. Park Seong-deok (DaeguGyeongbuk Development Institute). Dr Kwon Young-Jin, Mayor of Daegu explained that the report is ground- breaking because it clearly shows that international business meetings are transformative agents for Daegu, and the city will leverage on its future conventions as a strategy for the development of its priority industries. This summary article for IJBEL which covers two case studies is submitted on behalf of the Daegu CVB which acts as the Secretariat for the Daegu Business Events District. Daegu has long roots in its conventions industry as the site of South Korea’s first regional convention centre EXCO which opened for business in 2001. Two years later, the Daegu CVB was set-up, and the city has not looked back since. With an impressive list of national and international conventions under its belt, Daegu is one of South Korea’s top convention cities. The 28thWorld Gas Conference and 13thWorld Conference of Geron technology are among those expected this year. In this submission for the IJBEL, the legacy impacts of hosting International Solar Cities Congress 2004 (ISCC 2004) and WEC 2013 or the “Energy Olympics” are scrutinized.

Study of hourly site-pair correlations of the clear-sky index and its predictor variables for long-term resource planning of solar cities

‘Solar City’ plans are being promulgated to reduce cities’ dependence on conventional fossil fuel-based power. Variability of solar radiation is a critical issue for these solar city plans. This paper aims to study this crucial issue by studying hourly site-pair correlations of clear-sky index variation and their underlying factors within a city. The analysis has been conducted for eight Indian cities, which have been proposed as prospective solar cities by the Government of India. The underlying factors taken into consideration are distance, relative humidity, wind speed, and temperature. Principal component analysis and regression analysis have been conducted to find the relationship of the site-pair correlations of clear-sky index with the identified predictor variables. The results show that though the underlying model remains predominantly similar across cities and zones, the predictor variables and the degree of fit change depending upon the local geographical and climatic peculiarities of various cities and regions.

Inferential‐ and measurement‐based methods to estimate rooftop “solar city” potential in megacity Seoul, South Korea

AbstractData analysis and collection techniques now allow for detailed inventory‐building of urban rooftops for the purposes of identifying solar energy potential within geographically defined boundaries, including those of cities. The complexity and inherent diversity of a city's building stock has propelled the introduction of many so‐called “solar city” assessment methods that, with varying levels of accuracy, scalability, and ease of use, seek to characterize the citywide solar photovoltaic (PV) resource potential. A review of the landscape of available methods supports a fundamental distinction across two classes of methods. First, “solar city” assessment methods can principally rely on inference to identify and characterize rooftop solar potential. Such inferential methods can establish estimates of citywide solar potential without needing direct insight into rooftop conditions or morphology, Second, measurement‐based methods estimate rooftop solar opportunities based on the direct measurement of rooftop conditions, often conducted through remote sensing. Comparative performance testing of several inferential‐ and measurement‐based methods using case study analysis underscores the importance of measurement‐based methods. In particular, measurement‐based methods are likely better positioned to support the needs of policy‐makers and investors interested in transforming a city or metropolitan area into a sustainable city whose buildings serve as the host of a new solar PV‐powered distributed electricity service system.This article is categorized under: Sustainable Energy > Solar Energy Energy and Power Systems > Energy Infrastructure Cities and Transportation > Smart Cities

Urban climate change experiments in Gandhinagar, India

Climate change has become a major sustainability issue in the Global South cities. In response to this, the study utilized ‘urban climate change experiments’ framework to understand the urban climate governance in the case study of National Solar City Project in the Gandhinagar city of India. The case study focused on the roles of various social actors in the context of establishing institutional arrangements of solar city project and then linked with the path-breaking innovation of 5 MW Solar Rooftop Project. The case analysis is primarily based on field work carried out in the Gandhinagar city and supplemented by secondary data. First, the study showed the shifting institutional structure of the project which signified the linkages of national and urban government in governing climate change. Second, the study revealed the well co-ordinated national and state policy networks leading to the innovation of solar rooftop project. Structuring PPP model, offering Green Incentive and generating clean energy without land constrains are the key innovations which make the solar rooftop project successful. Third, the solar city project has led to the reduction of carbon emissions at the city level which is effective in combating climate change. However, the urban actors faced some challenges while promoting solar technologies due to the lack of public acceptance.

An Investigation of Techno-Economic Feasibility of Solar Cities of India Using Electricity System Sustainability Index

An Investigation of Techno-Economic Feasibility of Solar Cities of India Using Electricity System Sustainability Index

Development of transportation cost functions and optimization of transportation networks for solar-aided utilization of CO2

The present work aims to establish a methodology for the optimization of CO2 transportation networks by developing transportation levelized-cost functions for the mixture CO2:N2 (96:4%) within the ranges {25–2000 kg/s} and {50–2000 km}, locating the optimal solar cities (locations-sinks) to receive CO2 for further transformation into fine chemicals, and mapping the optimal routes which present the minimum transportation and utilization cost. Potential economies of scale of merging same-route sinks into a joint pipeline are scrutinized by selecting 17 CO2 sources from thermal power and combustion stations in the central EU region aggregating almost 3000 kg/s of CO2; these amounts are optimally allocated to 16 available sinks, which combine maximum solar capacity with the least distance to major ports. This study makes use of transport cost correlations, while the solar potential of the most promising solar cities is calculated in detail based on solar intensity databases and solar power plants cost assessment. Mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) techniques are incorporated in the optimization procedure under sinks capacity constraints. A major conclusion of this work is that for the mass flowrates considered and the sources locations chosen in the current study it is economically beneficial to transfer CO2 directly to the final sinks from the original sources rather than via intermediate sources. The MINLP formulation derives values of solar utilization cost of over €7B and transportation cost of over €2B per year covering transportation pipelines distances of 34,000 km: precise economic estimates of the proposed methodology regarding CO2 transportation and utilization might have significant implications on energy and environmental policy issues on European or global scale.

Feasibility of Low Carbon Renewable Energy City Integrated with Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems

This study evaluated the energy saving potential of renewable energy generation systems based on integrated solar energy in an urban environment. The solar city concept was implemented using photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal systems. As a case study, the Sejong national pilot smart city in South Korea was selected to evaluate the renewable energy penetration rate. For evaluating the proposed renewable energy systems, the electrical and thermal loads of the smart city were estimated using field measurement data. Then, the renewable energy penetration rate of the city was evaluated. The HomerPro software was used to analyze the PV generation and operating energy consumption of the natural gas (NG) generator with a district heating network. The thermal load-supporting potential of the solar thermal system was estimated using the TRNSYS software. The results showed that the proposed urban integrated renewable energy system could meet over 30% of the renewable energy penetration rate and the levelized cost of energy and total net present cost was 7% lower than the base case system (i.e., NG generator). The proposed system also exhibited 38% less CO2 emissions than the base case system.

Collaborative governance for urban sustainability: implementing solar cities

ABSTRACT Today, when rapid urbanization has become an environmental concern all over the world, the concept of solar cities assumes a crucial role to play in realizing not only the sustainability potential of cities but also to transform urbanization into an opportunity. The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India in 2008 launched the Solar Cities Programme to promote alternate sources of energy and reduce dependency on conventional energy sources. Chandigarh was the first city to be declared as model solar city. This study attempts to empirically analyze the measures taken to make Chandigarh a model solar city while focusing on adoption of roof-top Solar Photovoltaic (SPV). The data collected was analysed and interpreted using percentages. Descriptive analysis of the responses of government officials, residents, NGOs and private empanelled agencies was done. Findings revealed that the whole idea of participatory local planning was sidelined, awareness generation remained piecemeal, no formal co-ordination mechanism was established and yet empirical targets were not only achieved but surpassed. However, the implementation failed to convince residents to shift towards solar energy, jeopardizing the long-term sustainability of the solar city plan.