First Quarter 2012

The Geographic Information System (GIS) Team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) encompasses a broad range of scientific research and reporting activity in support of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), NREL programs and initiatives, and the GIS community. The purpose of this quarterly newsletter is to feature recent projects, highlight new tools and announce datasets available for download.

Featured Project

10-kilometer TMY3 Boundaries Refined

GIS analyst, Anthony Lopez, is finalizing a project that defines 10-kilometer TMY3 boundaries based on the spatial variance of resource, elevation, distance to station, and station uncertainty—as opposed to being solely based on distance to station. The main use of these TMY3 boundaries are to identify a best station-to-use given location, provide "30-meter LandScan" population estimates per solar resource, and stations to associate with utilities (and apply rates, incentives, etc.). This work is planned to be integrated with Systems Advisor Model (SAM) and In My Back Yard (IMBY).

A copy of this map is available through our MapSearch tool.

Featured Tool

RE Atlas Released

The NREL DAV Group released the Renewable Energy Atlas (RE Atlas), an interactive spatial application, which allows users to view a composite display of potential renewable energy resources available in the United States. The application provides users with easy access to high-quality renewable energy resource information and data. A primary goal of the application is to help facilitate renewable energy policy, investment, and education by making critical information freely available to planners, developers, researchers, educators, and students.

The RE Atlas leverages the use of dynamic maps and tools to allow the user to investigate data by renewable energy resource category. These categories include: biomass, geothermal, hydro, solar, and wind. The online application also provides links to other sites, tools, and applications from NREL, U.S. DOE, and their partners to assist users in exploring other publicly available data and resources.

If you have questions about this tool, contact Ted Quinby.

Newly Released

State-Based 50-m Height Wind Datasets

NREL recently received permission to distribute the following 50-m height wind datasets via our website.

• Georgia
• Minnesota
• New York
• South Carolina
• Texas
• Wisconsin

Website Updates

Dynamic Maps, GIS Data and Analysis Tools
Stay up-to-date with NREL's GIS staff and growing capabilities.

Data Resources
Links to metadata have been added to the data resource tables.

Developer Network
NREL's developer network helps developers access and use energy data via Web services.

http://maps.nrel.gov/
The most current list of available NREL's GIS tools.

For the latest updates on information regarding dynamic maps and GIS data, visit the Dynamic Maps, Geographic Information System (GIS) Data and Analysis Tools website.

If you are having trouble with our email version, please access our Web version First Quarter 2012.

The GIS at NREL newsletter highlights all the GIS activities in support of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies research at the laboratory. Features include recent projects, new tools, and available datasets. You can subscribe to this newsletter using our simple online form, and you can also unsubscribe online.