Analyzing the Solar Energy Potential of Smart Cities
Name
Elizaveta Nikolaeva
Abstract
Smart cities, driven by technology and innovation, aim to enhance the quality of life for citizens while prioritizing sustainable urban development. Embracing renewable energy sources such as solar energy is a vital strategy contributing to the sustainability of a city. For this reason, understanding the solar energy production potential and identifying consumption to production balance becomes crucial for achieving sustainable urban development goals. This thesis aims to employ a data-driven approach for analyzing the estimated solar energy production from buildings’ roofs in Tartu city, validate and refine previous estimations, and explore methods to predict energy consumption in buildings. The purpose of the analysis and investigations is to provide meaningful insights on Tartu’s solar potential and facilitate future assessments of energy balance within the city. The revised approach to assessing energy production demonstrated better accuracy, while the implementation of data cleaning and cache utilization resulted in a 5-fold increase in processing speed. Furthermore, there were provided valuable recommendations regarding optimal roof characteristics specific to the region for enhanced solar panels productivity. In addition, the thesis suggests which models can be suitable for predicting energy consumption in urban buildings and defines requirements on what data should be collected in the future to be able to realise such predictions in Tartu.
Graduation Thesis language
English
Graduation Thesis type
Master - Computer Science
Supervisor(s)
Pelle Jakovits
Defence year
2023