The Geospatial Energy Mapper is an interactive online mapping tool that helps identify areas of the country that are suitable for wind, solar, and other clean energy infrastructure projects.
It can be hard to remember, or for some, even imagine, what life was like before most of us carried a dynamic mapping platform around in our back pockets. Being able to quickly map out the most efficient route by car, bike or on foot has become second nature. What if the same principles with easily accessible and easy-to-use tools could be applied to mapping energy infrastructure?
The Geospatial Energy Mapper (GEM) is a comprehensive, interactive online mapping tool that helps identify areas of the country suitable for wind, solar, and more. First released publicly in 2013 as the Energy Zone Mapping Tool (EZMT), GEM has been redesigned, rebranded and redesigned. GEM is hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and funded by DOE’s Office of Electricity.
“In GEM, we applied lessons learned from nearly 10 years of hosting EZMT, including making it easier to learn and use, updating the software architecture, and choosing a name that fit the scope of its current usage,” said Jim Kuiper, principal geospatial engineer at GEM. Technical Coordinator.
GEM provides an extensive catalog of map data. This includes energy resources and infrastructure, as well as other information that may affect energy infrastructure siting decisions. With more than 190 different map layers—including demographics, boundaries, and utilities—users can locate areas for clean power generation, electric vehicle charging stations, and more.
One of the new features is map themes, which allow maps to be quickly set up for a specific focus, such as solar, wind or electric vehicles. This new feature helps users quickly load multiple layers related to a particular technology or resource without having to manually browse through cartographic catalogs and add individual layers to the map.
Using GEM’s modeling capabilities, users can generate customized suitability maps, or “heat maps.” This map shows which geographic areas of the United States are conducive to the development of certain energy resources and infrastructure. GEM includes preconfigured models for more than 40 types of energy infrastructure. Land-based wind turbines or utility-scale photovoltaic solar power are two examples. This provides a convenient starting point that users can then easily customize.
“Choosing where to build utility-scale renewable energy development is a very important decision with implications beyond power generation,” said GEM user and PhD Michael Levine. Students studying renewable energy landscapes at Columbia University. “GEM not only exposes energy suitability maps, but also allows users to customize the models used to generate such maps.”
GEM has nearly a hundred modeling standards to choose from. Population density, distance to the nearest substation, slope, wildfire risk, and percentage of low-income households are just a few examples. Clean Energy Development can analyze nine energy sources. They include biomass, coal (with carbon capture and storage), geothermal, natural gas, nuclear, solar, energy storage, water and wind.
GEM is expected to have as diverse a user community as EZMT. This tool has been used by planners and regulators at all levels of government. For example, Kentucky’s Energy Policy Office used EZMT to prototype the suitability of their solar site for regenerative mining tools. Other users include private industry, public service commissions and regional transmission organizations. Finally, national laboratories, educational institutions, energy and natural resource non-profit organizations, and individuals are all EZMT users.
Source of story:
Material Provided by the U.S. Department of Energy/Argonne National Laboratory. Original book by Marguerite Huber. NOTE: Content may be edited for style and length.
