Estimating the electricity generation capacity of solar photovoltaic arrays using only color aerial imagery

Brenda So, Cory Nezin, Vishnu Kaimal, Sam Keene, Leslie Collins, Kyle Bradbury, Jordan M. Malof

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this work, the problem of developing algorithms that automatically infer information about small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays in high resolution aerial imagery is considered. Such algorithms potentially offer a faster and cheaper solution to collecting small-scale PV information, such as their location and capacity. Existing work on this topic has focused on the automatic identification and annotation of panels in the aerial imagery. We extend this work by showing that we can reliably infer the capacity of PV arrays given only (i) color aerial imagery and (ii) a precise annotation of the array location. First we demonstrate that accurate capacity estimates can be obtained simply by estimating the visible surface area of a solar array, regardless of tilt. We then build a more sophisticated model where we use additional image information related to the properties of the solar array to further improve the capacity predictions. We use a dataset of 362 manually annotated Google Earth images of solar arrays with known electricity generation capacity in North Carolina to measure the predictive performance of our models.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2017 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
Subtitle of host publicationInternational Cooperation for Global Awareness, IGARSS 2017 - Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages1603-1606
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9781509049516
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2017
Event37th Annual IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2017 - Fort Worth, United States
Duration: Jul 23 2017Jul 28 2017

Publication series

NameInternational Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS)
Volume2017-July

Conference

Conference37th Annual IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityFort Worth
Period07/23/1707/28/17

Keywords

  • detection
  • machine learning
  • photovoltaic
  • satellite imagery
  • solar energy

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