Solar energy data on the European Data Portal
Publication Date/Time
2020-07-29T07:00:00+00:00
Country
Europe
Discover open data on solar energy and its applications on the
European Data Portal.
OPEN SOLAR ENERGY DATA

Open energy data
[/en/highlights/open-energy-data-european-data-portal] is one of the
European Data Portal’s (EDP) most popular data domains due to its
impact on the energy sector, for example. Within this data category,
the EDP has a fair amount of open solar energy data.

Solar energy is light and heat from the sun that can be harnessed and
used for technologies such as solar heating, photovoltaics, solar
thermal energy, solar architecture, and artificial photosynthesis. Due
to these technologies, solar energy has become an increasingly popular
renewable energy source to replace fossil fuel. With this increase,
more datasets about solar energy are being published as open data by
government bodies and institutions across Europe and beyond.

OPEN SOLAR ENERGY DATASETS

At the time of publication, the EDP offers over 21,000 datasets
related to solar energy. For example:

 	* ‘Renewable Energy Atlas for Flanders
[/data/datasets/774019aa-671c-4707-bcf5-a3145ceca934?locale=en]’
from the Belgian national open data portal [https://data.gov.be/].
This dataset is part of the Renewable Energy Atlas Vlaanderen and
includes open solar energy data from the Flanders region in Belgium,
such as the number of households per municipality currently lacking a
solar water heater and their foreseeable heat demand for sanitary hot
water.
 	* ‘Solar photovoltaic installations on the ground in Sarthe
[/data/datasets/fr-120066022-srv-fc61c1fc-450c-422d-a692-c949bbebc06f?locale=en]’
from the French national open data portal
[https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/]. This dataset contains data on the
ground solar power plant granted, modified, refused, cancelled or
abandoned in the French department Sarthe.
 	* ‘Solar heat; Number of instillations, collector surface and heat
production
[/data/datasets/544-zonnewarmte-aantal-installaties-collectoroppervlak-en-warmteproductie?locale=en]’
from the Dutch national open data portal [http://data.overheid.nl/].
As the name suggests, this dataset contains data on solar heat, the
number of installations, the collector surface and the heat production
across the Netherlands. This data started being collected in 1990.

OPEN SOLAR ENERGY DATA USE CASES

In the EDP library of open data use cases, there are several examples
of open solar data (re-)use. For example, the _Sun Energia _and
_Greenhome_.

_Sun Energia_
[/sites/default/files/use-cases/use_case_finland_-_sun_energia.pdf] is
a Finnish service that uses energy data, including data on solar
energy production, open meteorological data and weather data, to
analyse energy production and potential savings for buildings and
homes. By assessing the solar energy production of buildings and
homes, _Sun Energia_ advises clients on how many solar panels they
will need on their roof to save energy and money.

_GreenHome_
[/sites/default/files/use-cases/netherlands_-_greenhome.pdf] is a
Dutch service that offers independent advice on how to create a more
sustainable home through energy data, including data on the cost of
solar panels and heating. Through the service, users can gain custom
information on how they can stop using fossil fuel and become more
energy neutral.

AI, JOURNALISM AND SOLAR FARMS

To further explore the topic of open solar energy data,  the European
Data Portal and Support Centre for Data Sharing (SCDS) team will host
a Data Talks session on “AI and Journalism
[https://eu01web.zoom.us/meeting/66514376775]” on 19 AUGUST 2020 at
13:00 CEST. In this session, we will be joined by:

 	* Mathias Felipe de Lima Santos from the University of Navarra; and
 	* Florencia Coelho from La Nacion.

In this session, they will be discussing their work on Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and Nature and how La Nacio used AI and open
satellite imagery to map the status of solar farms across Argentina.

For more examples of open data, explore the EDP’s datasets and use
cases from different European countries that exemplify the value of
open data and aim to address the current challenges in energy. If you
know of any open solar energy data use cases, share them with us via
mail [/en/feedback/form?type=4], and follow us on Twitter
[https://twitter.com/EU_DataPortal], Facebook
[http://www.facebook.com/EuropeanDataPortal] or LinkedIn
[https://www.linkedin.com/company/10478056/admin/] to stay up to
date!
