Online REZoning Tool based on MapRE released

The Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP) of the World Bank, the University of California Santa Barbara, Development Seed, and Derelinx have developed and released an online REZoning tool using the MapRE methods. This is a powerful tool that can identify solar PV, onshore wind, and offshore wind suitable sites and zones anywhere in the world using the Global wind and solar atlas data. Further, the tool can use multiple criteria including distance to transmission lines and roads, ports, and protected areas to prioritize zones and estimate their levelized costs based on user inputs—the same methodology developed and applied in the MapRE excel and Tableau tools. We are incredibly excited about this release and hope users around the world get the opportunity to conduct REZoning analysis in minutes rather than months.

REZoning Tool

Study examining India’s renewable energy targets published in PNAS

Deshmukh, R., Phadke, A., and Callaway, D. (2021) “Least cost targets and avoided fossil fuel capacity in India’s pursuit of renewable energy”

This study used the MapRE tools to identify wind and solar PV resources in India and then evaluated the impacts of different targets and mixes of renewable energy on total system costs and GHG emissions.

India study published in the Renewable Energy Journal

Deshmukh, R., Wu, G.C., Callaway, D., and Phadke, A. (2019) “Geospatial and techno-economic analysis of wind and solar resources in India”

Our study on wind, solar PV, and concentrated solar power resources in India is published in the Renewable Energy journal. Results are shared on the India Renewable Energy Zones page.

Paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

“Strategic siting and regional grid interconnections key to low-carbon futures in African countries”

Our peer-reviewed paper details siting strategies that reduce the economic costs, risks, and environmental impact of wind and solar deployment in Eastern and Southern Africa. It finds that ‘no-regrets’–highly accessible, low-cost, and low-impact–sites are plentiful, and international interconnections needed to encourage their development across the region. The study encompasses and builds on our earlier work with IRENA by exploring wind site selection scenarios in Southern Africa.

The paper is open access (free to non-subscribers) and can be viewed and downloaded on the PNAS webpage here.

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley issued press releases about the paper. Check them out here:
LBNL: The Economic Case for Wind and Solar Energy in Africa
UC Berkeley: Renewable energy has robust future in much of Africa

Updates to ‘Renewable Energy Zones for the Africa Clean Energy Corridor’ report

We’ve uploaded a corrected version of the Africa_RE_Zones_LBNL_2016.pdf (10874 downloads) , correcting for minor errors in the capacity value estimates of wind zones. Please see the erratum page of the updated report for more details. Additionally, we’ve updated all the spatial data (zones) and the interactive PDF maps to reflect these changes.