May 26 2010
For one week following each TAP Webinar, which is hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy Technical Assistance Project (TAP) for state and local officials, you are invited to ask questions of the presenters, enter comments about the topic of the presentation, and share your thoughts with others. You can find copies of presentations from the March 24 Webinar in PDF format and audio files in MP3 format and background materials and reports in the TAP Webinar archive.

Christopher Sandt_UNC asked:
Are there online (public) sources available for finding electrical grid infrastructure geodatabases? I'm learning the hard way that this type of geo data is proprietary (i.e., owned by the utilities), and is not typically available to the public due to security concerns. Any advice, particularly for North Carolina?
Ted Quinby Answers:
Unfortunately, electrical grid infrastructure, particularly the location of transmission lines is proprietary data that is sold by commercial companies. We have purchased this data and can use it for internal analysis purposes, but are legally barred from sharing this data.

PIER Renewables asked:
Does the Open PV project consider system production in kWh in addition to installed capacity?
Is there data for geothermal resource maps?
Ted Quinby Answers:
No, at this point the Open PV project only considers installed capacity. We would eventually like to grow the project to include either modeled production data or actual production data or a combination of both. Unfortunately we do not yet have a timetable for the introduction of this capability.

Jennifer asked:
Can Tribal Lands be looked at specifically for data?
Ted Quinby Answers:
We do not have resource layers broken down specifically for tribal lands. However, most if not all of our resource data should include areas covered by tribal lands. The National Atlas has an Indian Lands layer available for download. If this layer does not meet your needs, then I would suggest contacting the U.S. Department of Indian Affairs to find a more specific dataset. Once you have the spatial data you're looking for, it would simply be a matter of using a GIS software package to clip our resource layers by the tribal layers.

Chris Stump asked:
I'm developing an energy atlas for the state of montana focused on wind, hydro, oil/gas, biomass, etc, etc. I'm very familiar with what is available from NREL as per gis data and maps. it has been rumored there is an updated wind map/gis raster dataset for Montana. Is that true? If so, how is it distributed and download? I'd like to receive the actual raster if available since I'm also creating a series of suitability models. Please let me know if there is updated wind data.
Ted Quinby Answers:
Unfortunately, no. NREL licensed the 80-m and 100-m data from AWS Truepower, but we didn't pay to create it. (NREL paid to develop the 50-m data sets.) AWS is supposed to be offering special pricing on these two data sets through the DOE Wind Powering America program. If you are interested in following up, contact Amber Trendell at AWS Truepower:
Amber Trendell
atrendell@awstruepower.com
518-213-0044 x1020

Adam asked:
Do you have transmission maps?
Ted Quinby Answers:
Unfortunately, electrical grid infrastructure—particularly the location of transmission lines—is proprietary data that is sold by commercial companies. Public distribution of this data is also generally restricted due to security issues. You will have to contact a company that sells this information.

Sam asked:
I would like to get ArcGIS raster (grid)files of wind, geothermal, and solar resource potential so that I can make my own maps. Are those files available?
Ted Quinby Answers:
One option you have is to take the data available to you from the NREL data download utility as shapefiles to make your own maps. If you specifically need this data to be in raster or grid format for a specific type of analysis, you can simply convert the shapefiles to a raster format. If this does not meet your needs then you can contact me via email at:
ted.quinby@nrel.gov

Lis Goss asked:
What is the difference between high-res and low-res data: 1 meter versus 300 meter, or something else?
Ted Quinby Answers:
The answer requires more space that I have available with this blog, and you can find a summary of the difference between high-res and low-res NREL datasets on the NREL Web site at: http://www.nrel.gov/gis/data_analysis_background.html

Robbie Huff asked:
Why is the wind resource data not available for my state (Virginia)?
Ted Quinby Answers:
Virginia wind resource data is available as part of a regional dataset – look for the mid-atlantic regional dataset in the listing of wind datasets on the NREL data download utility.

Paul asked:
Are these tools optimized for specific browsers (e.g., ie, firefox, google-chrome)?
Ted Quinby Answers:
We do our best to optimize these tools for all browsers but find that this is a difficult goal to achieve due to the proliferation of browsers. Typically we focus our compatibility on IE 6+ and Firefox because this tends to cover close to 85% of web users. Looking to the future, we are starting to do more compatibility testing with Google Chrome for our applications.

Kevin Ng asked:
Does PV Watts and TMY3 draw from the same database? Are there data discrepancies between these two sources?
Ted Quinby Answers:
PVWatts utilizes TMY2 data, as opposed to TMY3 data, in its calculations. You can read a decent description of the differences between the TMY3 and TMY2 data sets, recommended uses, and methods for converting formats on an archived NREL Web site: http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/1991-2005/tmy3/

Chris Brown asked:
Has any mapping been done for offshore wind, specifically, any of the Great Lakes?
Ted Quinby Answers:
A lot of recent activity has focused around mapping of offshore wind resources – more specifically mapping of offshore resources for the Great Lakes, New England, Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia. This data will be published as part of a larger yet to be released report. If you want more information about offshore wind resources, please contact Walt Musial at NREL's National Wind Technology Center:
walter.musial@nrel.gov

Seth Sheldon asked:
How do NREL numbers on total existing renewable capacity in the US compare to EIA data? The reason I ask is that I spoke to an EIA rep yesterday who explained that EIA numbers are (not surprisingly) generally lower than trade group (e.g. AWEA) estimates.
Ted Quinby Answers:
Apart from a few reports and specific applications such as the Open PV project, NREL typically does not compile total renewable capacity information. NREL typically works with the EIA and industry partners to derive this information. EIA is slightly more conservative in its estimates in part because it tends to focus on large scale projects. EIA may not include smaller-scale installations that while perhaps insignificant individually may collectively account for differences in capacity estimates.

Vince Throop asked:
Any chance of adding landfill data and small hydro data ? Both of these resources are available through LMOP and INEL hydro prospector.
Ted Quinby Answers:
This is an excellent suggestion. The LMOP data should be included in our biomass resource data but it's aggregated by county. We have the INEL data but do not at this point have an agreement with the data provider to distribute this data or include it in our online applications.

Steven asked:
Is there a tool similar to PV Watts or IMBY that deals with solar water heating for swimming pools or home use hot water?
Ted Quinby Answers:
Not to my knowledge. We have had some discussions around incorporating solar hot water data into the Open PV project but an estimate for the introduction of this capability is not available.

Chris Stump asked:
Will a new wind raster be available for Montana? When will the web services be available for consumption?
Ted Quinby Answers:
We do not have a firm timetable for the release of developer.nrel.gov at this point but we are estimating towards the end of calendar year 2010.

Joseph Kerski asked:
How do you calculate the grid cell values for your wind potential data? Is it all based on weather and climate models, direction of slope, and so on? In other words, I envision students asking me if you have a weather station every square km.
Ted Quinby Answers:
The gridded wind resource potential data is primarily modeled data from climate and topography. Measured data is included in this process but the data is sparse in relation to the areas being modeled. So the answer is no, there are not weather stations every square km. Topography and surface roughness of vegetation also plays a factor in wind resource estimates, particularly as you move closer to the earth's surface. Slope does not really come into play apart from being utilized for exclusion analysis – determining where wind is not feasible due to slope considerations.

Brian asked:
What about Ground Source Heat Pump mapping tools?
Ted Quinby Answers:
Unfortunately, I do not have any information relating to this.

Phil Lou asked:
How was the # of systems by states collected? There are 1,387 systems currently participating in the WA Production Incentive Program.
Ted Quinby Answers:
All data in the Open PV database is populated by user contributions. This is a collaborative effort between government, industry, and the general public and we rely on broad participation in order for the project to be successful. Clearly we currently do not have complete data for the state of Washington. We continually follow up with appropriate agencies and organizations to try and fill known holes in our data. If you have a specific point of contact for the State of WA incentive program, we welcome your input.

Gia asked: What tools provide the most extensive data for hydropower data (water rather than hydrogen)?
Ted Quinby Answers:
I would refer you to the Virtual Hydropower Prospector from Idaho National Laboratory: http://hydropower.inel.gov/prospector/index.shtml.

Tim Michels asked:
In your PV2 demo, I didn't see how do you specify the type of solar cells for % efficiency. I presume that is a selectable input. Is that right?
Ted Quinby Answers:
PVWatts uses the module's nameplate DC power rating rather than module efficiency.

Ken asked:
FOLLOW-UP to my question on data verification: We are managing a rebate program for solar and were going to encourage rebate recipients to enter their system. Would it be better for us, as a government agency to enter the data to increase confidence?
(TED): I would recommend that if you are managing the rebate program and have access to the data, it might be advantageous for you as a government agency to enter the data. The main reason that I say this is because you can more or less guarantee 100% coverage of your data in our database. Encouraging your recipients to enter the data into the system is great and is certainly encouraged, but you are not likely to get full participation.

Phil asked:
Can you provide some direction on creating our own "Views", linking our utility customer information to our address points. We use ESRI Arcmap 9.3.1.
Ted Quinby Answers:
I recommend you consult ESRI technical support and/or the ESRI user forums to get an answer to this question. This is a standard capability of any GIS software and I am confident that you will find an answer quickly through the resources above.

Mike asked:
Is there a way to download mapping/charting data from the BioPower application?
Dan Getman replies:
Not at this time. It is likely that these data will be available via Web services (WMS/WFS) at some point in the future, but for now they are not available through this tool. Some of this data may be available from the source which is specified in the metadata within the BioPower tool.

Jason Claiborne asked:
The speaker mentioned LiDAR data available for about 200 locations. Where can I access this info?
Dan Getman replies:
I was referring to the 133 cities for which these data exist. (Altogether, I think they are actually collecting data for something like 166 cities.) This project is managed through National Governor’s Association and the U.S. Geological Service and is collecting a variety of data sets for major cities across the United States. I believe that LiDAR data is part of this data collection project.