Geospatial modelling and assessment of solar potential in Jamshedpur, India using UAV data | |
| Author | Ryali, Nava Sai Divya |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.RS-25-01 |
| Subject(s) | Solar energy--India Geospatial data--Mathematical models |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Engineering in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Solar energy is undoubtedly playing a significant role in sustainable energy systems, thanks to rapid technological advancements, lower costs, and growing public acceptability. Since cities consume a significant amount of electricity, it is imperative to deploy photovoltaics (PV) and to promote solar technology to reduce the negative impact of fossil fuels on environment and achieve sustainable development goals. To assess solar potential, 3D simplified city model of urban area of Jamshedpur, India, has been developed. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle integrated with CMOS digital camera, Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) were used to collect survey. The aerial survey was conducted with an average flying height of 95 m by a rotorcraft (RPAS) at 10m/sec mission velocity and 5856 images are captured by Sony CMOS camera. The resulting images were processed using Agisoft Metashape Professional software for georeferencing, Dense Point Cloud data and orthomosaic covering the full area of 9.7 km2 were generated. The vertical accuracy of the data is ± 0.20 m. QGIS is used for editing orthomosaic to create building footprints. Global Mapper is used for generating DSM, DTM and nDSM (height extraction of each building) operations from point cloud data. The CityGML based 3D model consisting of more than 30k buildings is generated and visualized using FME Software. Ghouard’s solar model was used to conduct geospatial analysis. The code was scripted using MATLAB Mapping Toolbox to model solar irradiation on the building surfaces by combining walls along with the rooftops in the study region. The empirical study assessed and estimated annual solar potential in the area by accounting time-dependent shadowing events based on the sun’s trajectory. The region’s annual solar energy of 310.149 TWh/year is estimated. The building rooftops and facades receive an estimated global irradiance of 1323.95 kWh/m2/year and 821.65 kWh/m2/year, respectively, in the study region. The findings in the study show that shading effects have impacted the incoming solar irradiation, especially on facades, to increase the solar capacity. The developed model proposed an effective solution to construct a simplified 3D solar city map by integrating building facades along with rooftops. Integrating UAV-derived datasets with MATLAB using Ghouard’s Solar Model provides a cohesive, cost efficient and precise method, for developing 3D city models, evaluating solar potential and correlating the impact of urban building forms (UBF) on incoming solar potential. |
| Year | 2025 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology |
| Department | Department of Information and Communications Technologies (DICT) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (RS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Tripathi, Nitin Kumar |
| Examination Committee(s) | Sarawut Ninsawat;Singh, Jai Govind |
| Degree | Dissertation (Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2025 |