A Geo-spatial approach for quantifying rooftop photovoltaic energy potential in Karnal smart city, Haryana - A case study

Solar energy is one of the best sustainable forms of renewable energy. India has a cumulative installed capacity of 9.23 GW of grid-connected solar power and set an ambitious target of attaining 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022, including 40 GW of grid-connected rooftop solar installations well. The present study demonstrates the Geospatial technology to estimate the potential of solar photovoltaic on the rooftops of Karnal city. The satellite data of Sentinel -2 and World View-II data was interpreted so as to extract the building footprints. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data derived from ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite) PALSAR (2019) data was used to calculate the Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI). It was calculated that the average annual GHI varied between 0.79-5.9 kWh/m2/day. The study revealed maximum GHI (462 kWh/m2) was recorded during the monsoon season. It was estimated that the seasonal energy generation capacity in urban area was minimum (268.4MWh) in the winter season, while the maximum (2632.4MWh) energy generation capacity was observed during the monsoon season. In the case of the industrial area, the minimum seasonal energy generation capacity was found to be 23.9 MWh in winter while the maximum of 234.8 MWh during the monsoon season. If solar panels installed on the proposed rooftops, an estimated energy potential of 5.9 GWh would be generated in the study area