Afghanistan Resource Data and Geospatial Toolkit (GsT) WISER Clean Energy Access Workshop Shannon Cowlin 22 March 2010 NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
NREL Activities in Afghanistan Resource Assessment High-resolution (1-km) wind maps High-resolution (10-km) solar maps Geospatial Toolkit (GsT) Activities completed in 2007 with Training on Products
Resource Assessment in a Strategic Framework Facilitate EE/RE deployment through private markets based on sound technology, resource, and policy information Energy Markets Support use of decision tools that will facilitate project development, planning, and policy decisions Decision Analysis Support informed decision making Enabling Environment Review and fill data and Knowledge gaps Resource, Technology, and Market Information
Resource Assessment Develops information on the availability of the renewable resource at different locations. Characteristics of renewable resources: Supplies vary over time (storage often required) Supply is generally never depleted Conversion to useable energy is governed by flow rate High-quality resource data needed to size systems and stimulate increased use. Consequences of using poorquality resource data Output and economics do not meet goals Conservative design, driving up initial costs
Resource Assessment Methods Measurements Highest quality Expensive Time consuming Point coverage only Models Less accurate Less expensive and time consuming Good spatial coverage Source: NREL Pix Source: Richard Perez Source: NREL Pix Source: UCAR
Applications of resource data Annual Seasonal Monthly Daily Hourly Country Policy Region Planning km meters Project Dev Prefeasibility Project Dev System Design
Applications of resource data Annual Seasonal Monthly Daily Hourly Country Policy Region Planning km meters Project Dev Prefeasibility Project Dev System Design
Afghanistan Solar Resource Assessment
Afghanistan Wind Resource Assessment
Geospatial Toolkit (GsT) Stand-alone computer application Integrates data with GIS capabilities Combines resource with other data Data viewer Analysis tool
Combines resource data with other datasets RE potential not only resource dependent, for example: How far is resource from load centers? How far is resource from transmission lines? Is site accessible by road? Is site a protected area? Can we build on it? What is the land currently used for? Is site too steep to build on?
Non-Resource Data Types Geographic: land use*, elevation, rivers*, etc. Political: boundaries*, cities* Infrastructure: transportation*, electricity Protected areas: world heritage sites, nature preserves * Data sets from Afghanistan Information Management Services
Afghanistan GsT Opening Screen Legend with data layers Data viewing window showing country and province boundaries and power plants
GsT Navigation Returns the map view to show the entire country Click on map zooms in Scale of map as currently displayed Click + to zoom in Click - to zoom out User can drag map by holding down the mouse Click on map feeds data to HOMER model Click on map provides information on visible data layers
Display Data Roads Protected Areas Check/unche ck boxes to display/hide data layers Transmission Lines
Monthly Data
Run Queries Limit distance to roads and transmission lines Specify wind resource limits Choose land use types Total land area is tabulated Areas meeting criteria are shown on the map
Estimating Potential from Query Results Wind Resource Utility Scale Wind Power [W/m 2 ] Wind Speed [m/s] Total Area [km 2 ] Total Installed Capacity [MW] Moderate 300-400 6.4-7.0 8010 9390 Good 400-500 7.0-7.5 2183 5005 Excellent 500-600 7.5-8.0 972 1600 Excellent 600-800 8.0-8.8 215 1010 Total 11,380 56,900 Note: Technical Potential Economic Potential
Link to HOMER Resource data are fed into HOMER application Choose sample load profile Click area of interest on map HOMER returns least cost systems based on load and resources
Comparing System Costs and Generation PV/Wind/Gen/Battery Gen/Battery
Trainings for Afghans National Solidarity Program Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development Afghanaid Ministry of Energy and Water Kabul University Building Resources Across Community Aga Khan Development Network Norwegian Church Aid US Geological Survey
Available on NREL web site http://www.nrel.gov/international/ra_afghanistan.html