TransitionZero Launches Comprehensive Global Solar Asset Mapper To Enhance Energy Transition Decision-Making In 183 Countries

Climate analytics non-profit TransitionZero launched the Solar Asset Mapper (TZ-SAM), an innovative open-access global dataset of commercial and utility-scale solar facilities. This groundbreaking resource leverages satellite imagery and machine learning to provide unparalleled granularity, identifying small- and medium-sized solar assets worldwide.

The launch event at the White House, co-hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, marks a significant milestone in the Biden-Harris Administration’s energy transition strategy. The dataset aims to fill critical gaps in traditional solar asset reporting methods, enhancing forecasting and grid planning capabilities.

In 2023, the world added nearly 400 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity, emphasizing the need for accurate, current data to manage this rapid expansion. The TZ-SAM Q1 2024 dataset includes the location and shape of 63,616 assets, with estimated capacities exceeding 711 GW. Notably, this dataset increases the recorded capacity of facilities under 5 MW by at least threefold compared to existing public and commercial alternatives.

“Utilizing accurate and current geospatial data is essential to prevent poor decision-making resulting from ‘junk-in, junk-out’ modeling,” said Matt Gray, Co-founder and CEO of TransitionZero. “We’re excited to announce the availability of this innovative dataset and eagerly anticipate its integration into our software platform, Model Builder, later this year.”

The methodology for TZ-SAM was developed by combining algorithms with the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 dataset and the community-driven OpenStreetMap dataset for training labels. This approach ensures a high level of accuracy in identifying the capacity, land area, and age of large solar facilities, as well as numerous smaller assets.

Diren Kocakuşak, Research Analyst at Global Energy Monitor, praised the new tool, “TransitionZero’s Solar Asset Mapper addresses the challenge of providing complete and accurate data on the growing number of smaller-scale projects across the globe by rounding out the solar picture with geometries, locations, and capacity estimates.”

TransitionZero plans to release regular updates to the TZ-SAM dataset. Later this year, the dataset will be integrated into Model Builder, a software platform designed to support capacity expansion and unit dispatch modeling.