Objectives of the service
Users and their needs
The issues that developers have with their current Greenfield site prospecting and development processes, and the impact of the proposed SEWISS service are the following:
- It is very expensive, with developers investing upwards of 530,000 Euro per 100 Mw installed just to get to the start of the Design phase. The proposed SEWISS service could reduce this cost by an estimated 10% (~ 50,000 Euro).
- It is time consuming, with projects taking years before sites are selected and all approvals are in place. The proposed SEWISS service could significantly reduce the duration of the Greenfield prospecting phase by more than 60% (3-4 months).
- It is labor intensive with individual wind/site assessors working on as few as four projects a year. The proposed SEWISS service will bring increased automation and we expect that an individual wind/site assessor will be able to work on double the number of projects per year.
- Breaking into new geographical markets is a huge challenge for developers due to the extra costs involved and initial lack of local knowledge. The proposed SEWISS service will enable developers to complete Greenfield Prospecting and some aspects of Greenfield Development without the need for local support or specific local knowledge. SEWISS will also provide an efficient and cost effective way of doing due diligence when purchasing local sites partially developed by a local developer.
The proposed SEWISS service would address the opportunity that the onshore wind market is predicted to grow strongly over the coming 10 years and that developers looking to profit from this will need to increase automation so that they can increase their project throughput, reduce time to market and make better site selection/ site purchase decisions.
Service/ system concept
The table below provides a breakdown of the SEWISS service portfolio.
SEWISS Service Portfolio | Relevant for? |
Access to EO and non EO data layers - Provide registered users with automated online access to search, purchase and download multiple sources of relevant EO and non EO data | Onshore wind and other sectors i.e. road, rail, infrastructure and land management. |
Automated Land Cover Analysis - Provide registered users with online tool to conduct automated land use analysis down to resolution of 1 hectare MMU or better. Users will be able to manually adjust the results of the automated land use analysis within SEWISS, save and download result. | Onshore wind but also Onshore wind and other sectors i.e. road, rail, infrastructure and land management. |
Automated Roughness Map - Allow users to automatically convert an LCA into a roughness map using standard SEWISS roughness indexes or indexes of their choice, save and download the result | Onshore wind |
Automated Building Recognition - Provide registered users with online tool to conduct automated building recognition analysis. Users will be able to manually adjust the results within SEWISS, save and download result. | Onshore wind and other sectors i.e. road, rail, infrastructure and land management. |
Automated “Greenfield” Analysis - Provide registered users with online tool to conduct automated “greenfield” analysis using standard SEWISS rule values or rule value of their choice. Save and download result. | Onshore wind |
Automated Turbine Selection & Positioning – Provide registered users with online tool to conduct automated turbine selection and positioning using standard SEWISS database of turbines or turbine data of their choice. Users will be able to manually adjust the results within SEWISS, save and download result. | Onshore wind |
Project Data Storage – Provide registered users with online tool through which they can store, search and share projects, data purchased and results. | Onshore wind and other sectors i.e. road, rail, infrastructure and land management. |
Project Data Visualization In The Field – Provide registered users with online tool through which they can view and locate their position on their data when using SEWISS on a GPS enabled mobile device in the field. | Onshore wind and other sectors i.e. road, rail, infrastructure and land management. |
Our proposed SEWISS service is unique in providing an online portal with which developers can streamline and automate data/image search, purchase, and analysis in one tool. Developers will finally be able to easily access from one location recent high resolution EO data as well as other layers of relevant data. The outputs of our proposed SEWISS service will be compatible with a developers need to include SEWISS outputs in reports and approval/permitting requests and also to import the SEWISS outputs into software packages like AutoCAD and WindPro for detailed design.
Space Added Value
To develop and deliver this service/system SEWISS must have access to two space assets, earth observation data and satellite navigation (GPS). Recent, very high, high, and in some cases medium resolution earth observation data in the form of optical and multispectral imagery are key starting points for the service. GPS is used to establish a common reference between the different GIS layers (data types) to be integrated and analyzed within the SEWISS system and the different outputs delivered by the SEWISS service. GPS is also utilized during the pilot demonstration project to enable SEWISS users to travel around their prospective sites with a GPS enabled mobile device. The SEWISS system will use the GPS of the mobile device to show the user their actual location so that they can validate the outputs generated by the SEWISS system and share this validation data with the SEWISS team to support validation of the accuracy of the SEWISS system/service developed.
Current Status
The following milestone reviews and workshops have already been completed:
- Project kickoff 16 March 2015
- 3 user requirement workshops in Poland/Spain April/May 2015
- User Requirements Review 3 June 2015
- System and Service Definition Review 28 July 2015
- Proof of concept user workshop in Spain 20 October 2015
- Final review 9 December 2015
We are actively working on gaining ESA funding for a follow on demonstration pilot project, during which we will build and test a fully functioning SEWISS system. We are currently in the process of developing and submitting a full proposal.
As we move towards a demonstration pilot project, we are always looking to involve new users, (onshore wind developers) in the future development and testing of the SEWISS service ahead of commercial launch. Developers signed up as “involved users” in a future demonstration pilot project can give direct input to the SEWISS service detailed design process and benefit for free use of the service during the pre-commercial launch phase. Please contact the SEWISS project manager, Lucy Kennedy l Lucy.Kennedy@qurus.com l +44 7725944643 to find out more.
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