An innovative approach to local solar energy planning in Riva Trigoso, Italy

This paper aims at introducing an approach for improving the renewable sources technologies inclusion in the municipality planning process and calls to revisit the current governance to strengthen the implementation effectiveness. The solar energy potential and the local energy requirements of the city of Riva Trigoso are analyzed and two types of solar technologies are tested. An analytical methodology based on the exposition of the buildings present in the considered location is developed. The method allows to identify the areas where it is more convenient to invest and the specific technology to be used. The effectiveness of the optimization method is validated via comparison with random allocation of the same total surface of panels. The results have been translated into GIS maps where the municipality can identify the areas at best solar energy potential and the more suitable technology. The proposed approach can be used for any location and it allows to define detailed scenarios for local energy planning processes.