Potential Rooftop Distribution Mapping using

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

for Solar PV Installation:
A Case Study for Dhaka, Bangladesh
Taskin Jamal
#1
, Weerakorn Ongsakul
*
, Jay Govind Singh
*
, Sayedus Salehin
#
, S.M. Ferdous
#

#
Faculty of Engineering, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
taskin@aiub.edu
*Energy Field of Study, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)
Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract To meet the ever increasing electricity demand in the
urban area, roof-top solar PV offers a feasible and alternative
solution along with conventional power supply from the electricity
grid. Geographic Information Systems can be used as a
significantly useful tool for potential rooftop distribution
mapping. This paper aims at mapping potential roof-top area
available in Dhaka city and evaluating the possible electricity
supply from such installations. In this work, ArcGIS software has
been used to compile and analyze the geographic data for
potential bright roof-top area whereas HOMER has been used to
model the energy system and to investigate the energy share from
the roof-top PV installations. This type of study will encourage the
entrepreneurship in the field of rooftop solar home system in the
urban areas of a country.
Keywords-Geographic I nformation System; Roof-top PV;
Distribution mapping; solar Photovoltaics; ArcGI S
I. INTRODUCTION
Electricity is one of the mostly used forms of energy which
is consumed in various residential as well as in industrial
applications. Fossil fuels have the major share in providing the
large amount of electricity demand which requires burning of a
huge quantity of fossil fuels across the globe. This fossil fuel
usage is also one of the main reasons for the green house gas
emission resulting global warming. Renewable energy
resources provide an alternative solution by replacing
hydrocarbon based fossil fuels. These resources are also often
termed as green energy since these don't cause green house gas
emission. Among renewable energy resources, solar
photovoltaic energy conversion is one of the most promising
one to meet the energy demand. Solar photovoltaic modules can
be integrated on the roof-top of buildings in urban areas to
harvest energy efficiently. It is of utmost importance to develop
new concepts to utilize this potential energy source in efficient
way considering the increasing demand of electricity.
Geographic Information System (GIS) is a smart technology
which can be used as an important element of smart electricity
network consisting of renewable energy resources. This
technology facilitates distribution network planning along with
improving system operation, maintenance and efficiency.
Research has been conducted at various research institutes and
universities for utilizing GIS technology for estimating the
potential roof top areas for solar PV electrification. Dhaka, as a
mega-city, needs more green energy solutions for urban
electrification among which roof-top integrated solar PV is a
prospective candidate. Studies have suggested that area
dependent methods are required for the optimal results while
using GIS for potential roof-top distribution mapping. Thus, it is
essential to find an optimal method for roof top distribution
mapping using GIS for Dhaka city [1].
II. GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR MAPPING
To determine the tremendous potential of renewable energy
systems, extensive research is being carried out by researchers
from different disciplines. Use of Geographic Information
System (GIS) offers added advantage for planning for
performing efficient operation and control of the system of any
place. GIS helps in mapping on spatial and temporal scales of
components of the distribution system of renewable energy. It is
a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing phenomena
existing and happening on earth. This technology assists in
integrating common database operations such as query and
statistical analysis with the unique visualization and geographic
analysis benefits offered by maps.
Different information in a spatial context is related by GIS
and the relationship between them is concluded. GIS store and
process data in two different formats, vector and raster. In
vector format, the view is presented as a mosaic of
interconnected lines and points those can represent any position
and boundaries of locations. In vector data models, the data are
represented by lines (arcs), traversed areas (polygon), labeled
nodes (points) and intersection points (nodes). The raster format
has appeared by aerial and satellite image technology, where
geographical objects are represented as grid-cell structures,
known as pixels.
The ability of Geographic Information System to look for
databases and carry out geographic queries has been found as an
economically efficient solution for power utilities. GIS have
been used in electric power applications for planning, solar and
biomass energy resources, wind energy evaluation, optimal
siting of wind and solar farms and their integration to the grid
[1].
III. DETERMINATION OF ROOFTOP AREA FOR SOLAR PV
There has been significant amount of works investigating
the evaluation of rooftop area for solar PV applications and
urban electrification through rooftop solar PV. Different
algorithms and methodologies including the assessment from
city 3D model have been proposed by Guindon et al., Ratti &
Richens, Wiginton et al., Gutschner et al., Defaix, Joachem et
al., Bryan, Strzalka et al., Izquierdo et al. for the evaluation of
total rooftop area for solar PV application in urban areas [2-10].
LIDAR technology has been applied by Nguyen et al., Kassner
et al. in their researches for the same purpose [11-12]. GIS tools
have been applied by several researchers, like Gadsden et al.,
Izquierdo et al., and Kraines et al. to estimate the potential of
photovotaics to be set up on building roofs in the urban areas
[10, 13-14]. Castro has simulated the electrical characteristics of
PV modules under shading effect [15].

Our research aims at finding out the potential capacity of the
rooftop solar PV for urban electrification with the help of GIS
platform to map. Unlike the related works done by various
researchers previously, in this work many inputs to software
were processed manually. Practical data collection and
observation of the research location have facilitated for having
improved set of data for the area. Here, the assessment of
rooftop area for the solar PV setup has not been proposed using
LIDAR technology or FA tool of GIS. The reasons behind the
manual processing of data for evaluation in the study area are:
Uneven distribution of informal settlements in the area.
Uneven distribution of population density and building
density.
No correlation between the population and building
densities among different areas.
Incompatibility of many structures for rooftop solar
PV setup.
Extrapolation is not possible due to uneven distribution
of population and the density of population varies
depending on the types of buildings and informal
settlements.
Bangladesh has six different seasons throughout the
year. The solar irradiation thus varies and the analysis
based on image recognition is difficult due to weather
effects of the rooftop.
The software used for the analysis is ArcGIS. It is a system
for working with maps and geographic information. ArcGIS is
a suite consisting of a group of geographic information
systems (GIS) software products produced by ESRI.
IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY AREA
The study area for the research has been selected in the city
of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, one of the major cities
in South Asia. It is one of the most densely populated cities in
the world. After granted as a city status in 1947, presently it is
the 9
th
largest city in the world. Considering the last few years
scenario in Bangladesh, especially in Dhaka, it has been
observed that the migration from the rural area to the urban
areas is increasing and thus population in the urban areas is
increasing drastically. As this trend is continuing, the electricity
demand is increasing each year. Roof-top PV panels offer an
excellent option for meeting the growing electricity demand.
Concerned power utilities and industries should evaluate the
potential for rooftop solar PV technology and adopt necessary
measures and it must be done in advance by promoting the
technology to avoid electricity crisis in future.
Electricity in Dhaka is supplied by two entities, Dhaka
Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) and Dhaka
Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO). For mapping and
calculating the potential, area under DPDC has been chosen;
being the largest distribution company in Dhaka. Of all the
132/33kV substations of DPDC, the Dhanmondi 132/33kV
substaion and its associated network have been chosen as the
main study area of this work. Dhanmondi 132/33kV grid
substation is in the center of the city in Katabon area and is
covering a large geographical area of extreme importance to the
country. Many government offices as well as educational,
commercial, industrial, residential and other important places
are located in this area. The service area of the Dhanmondi grid
substation has several types of customers starting from the
domestic 0.4kV to 11kV bulk customers. There are four
33/11kV substations under this substation named Dhanmondi,
Kakrail, Kawranbazar and New Ramna 33/11kV substation.


Figure 1: Study Area: Dhanmondi Grid Area
V. ROOFTOP SOLAR PV FOR DHAKA CITY
Distributed Generation (DG) is becoming popular all over
the world mainly because of loss reduction, cost saving from
transmission expansion & distribution network as it is located
near the load centers. The scarcity of conventional energy
resource is the other reason to consider DG as an emerging
energy source.
According to Bangladesh Renewable Energy Policy-2008,
solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are in use throughout the
country with over 300,000 household-level installations having
capacity of about 15 MW (November 2008). An average of 4
6.5 kWh/m
2
of solar radiation is available daily in Bangladesh.
Recently a notable decline of the indigenous gas supply has
taken place, which rapidly had worsened electricity generation
in the country. Given the citys power crisis and geophysical
situations, applications of either stand-alone or grid connected
PV systems would be very effective and realistic for power
addition. As planned load shedding is a daily phenomenon, the
Instant Power Supply (IPS) units have become very popular.
This system charges the batteries during the electricity supply
time and will deliver the stored energy when there is load
shedding. Rooftop solar system can be an excellent alternative
to this IPS unit. In Bangladesh, the government has not setup
the rules and regulations for feed-in-tariffs for the solar systems
in residential areas and the electricity infrastructure is old and
unsuitable to date for integration of renewable energy resources
in it. Thus the grid tie system is limited to internal grid only.
The conservative calculation of bright roof-tops from the
Quickbird Scene 2006 of Dhaka city indicates that the city
offers 10.554 km
2
of bright roof-tops within the Dhaka City
Corporation (DCC) area (134.282 km
2
). The application of
stand-alone PV systems with 75Wp solar modules can generate
nearly 1000MW of electrical power, which could substantially
meet the citys power demand [16]. From the perspectives of
environmental protection and climate change, application of
solar PV systems is pragmatic as Bangladesh is a signatory of
both the Kyoto Protocol and United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Therefore, PV
applications would be an appropriate and effective option for
the urban areas of Dhaka city.
There are two approaches those can be taken while
installing PV panels on roof-top of residential buildings to
produce electricity. One is the off grid system and the other is
the grid tie system. One can isolate himself from the utility
company that is responsible for supplying elecricity to homes.
This is known as going off grid. Then, the owner is responsible
for providing electricity to his home. Since, solar energy is
intermittent; variation of solar radiation may create problems.
An off grid system is very difficult to maintain and the
operation is quite complex. The other option is to remain tied
with the utility company and produce electricity from PV panels
at the same time. In this case, the utility company becomes the
back up system in case of any discrepancy occurs. This is
known as grid tie in solar systems. This is the most common
system people take when they plan to change to a renewable
energy system. The grid tie system is also called tied to grid
electrical system. In grid-tie systems, all the electricity
generated is utilized. After meeting the domestic or household
energy demands, the excess power can be fed into the grid. This
is known as Net Metering. The electric meter spins backward or
slows down when energy is produced and consumed in
proportion to the amounts.
In Bangladesh, thousands of off grid solar home systems are
currently in operation in rural areas. But for the urban areas, this
is not a common scenario yet. Dhaka city is still lacking behind
in terms of solar PV applications, and thus to solve the power
crises. With the help of solar PV systems installed on the bright
rooftops, electricity can be generated and resolve the issues of
planned load shedding. Figure 2 and 3 show the grid architeture
for different types of grid-tied solar PV system.


Figure 2: Grid intertied solar system with battery backup [17]

Figure3 : Grid intertied solar system without battery backup [17]
VI. EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL POWER GENERATION FROM
ROOFTOP SOLAR PV
In this work, the calculation of bright rooftop for the solar
PV installation is limited to the study areas only. The service
areas under the four 33/11kV substations mentioned above have
been located in Google Earth software where the earth images
are captured from satellites, aerial photography and GIS 3D
globe. The areas have been selected not only from the
theoretical and conceptual data but also from the field
observation and survey. After geographically locating the areas,
the map of the potential bright rooftops has been generated.
Using the options available in Google Earth software, the
potential rooftops have been selected by hand digitization
method to ensure more accuracy. The selected area file has been
exported into the ArcGIS software. ArcGIS is used for creating
maps and using it for different purposes. It can also compile the
geographic data, analyze the mapped information, share and
discover geographic information. ArcGIS is able to manage
geographic information in a database. Using the functions of
this software, all the informations realted to the selected areas
and the potential bright rooftop areas have been analyzed.
Several limitations and conditions have been considered while
analyzing and calculating the total rooftop amount in the areas
having the potential for PV installation. In these areas there
exist many important governmental as well as private
properties. Considerable amount of area has not been selected
as potential area due to the incompatibility characterisitics of
those areas for the purpose. Many small and medium sized
building rooftops have been discarded for shadowing problem.
In the study areas, the height distribution of the buildings has
found to be very uneven; thus the shadow effect is very
prominent. The informal settlements or the slum areas or
vulnerable one storied houses have been excluded from the
consideration for PV installation [16]. For calculating the
actual rooftop area for solar PV installation several factors have
been considered such as construction and design constrains,
shades of trees or higher buildings nearby, obstacles on the
rooftop, proper facing of the rooftop, slum areas (informal
settlements) and others constraints. The fraction of the actual
rooftop area has been evaluated from the total bright rooftop
area in accordance with the research from Kabir et al. and that
amount is 50% [16]. The following table shows actual rooftop
area under four different substation areas for solar PV
installation: Figure 4-7 represent the potential bright rooftops
for solar PV installation in different substation areas of the
Dhanmondi grid.
TABLE 1: CALCULATION OF POTENTIAL POWER GENERATION FROM ROOFTOP
SOLAR PV IN DHANMONDI 132/33 KV S/S SERVICE AREA
Substation of
the Service
Area
Total Area
Bright Rooftop
Area
Actual Rooftop
Area for Solar
PV Installation
Dhanmondi
33/11kV
3,346,008 m
2
232,721.62 m
2
116,360.81 m
2

Kakrail
33/11kV
1,660,574.089 m
2
398,783.9065 m
2
199,391.95 m
2

Kawranbazar
33/11kV
2,539,521.258 m
2
406,852.5079 m
2
203,426.25 m
2

New Ramna
33/11kV
2,285,882.631 m
2
466,399.2647 m
2
233,199.63 m
2



Figure 4: Locating the potential bright rooftops for solar PV application in
Dhanmondi 33/11kV substation service area.

Figure 5: Locating the potential bright rooftops for solar PV application in
Kakrail 33/11kV substation service area

Figure 6: Locating the potential bright rooftops for solar PV application in
Kawranbazar 33/11kV substation service area

Figure 7: Locating the potential bright rooftops for solar PV application in
New Ramna 33/11kV substation service area
In 2011, Dhanmondi grid had observed the maximum
demand in the month of August. And the maximum load
shedding occurred in August 1, 2011. In the evening peak time
at 7 PM, the demand was the maximum (118.03 MW) and the
supply was the least (93.41 MW), thus resulting the maximum
load shedding (24.62 MW) in the customer premises. It has
been evaluated that, the four substation service areas under the
Dhanmondi 132/33 kV substation can be supplied with the
electricity generation ranging from minimum 62.49 MW-peak
to maximum of 78.78 MW-peak from the rooftop solar PV. As
seen from the data provided, the maximum amount of load
shedding was about 24.62 MW during the specified period of
the day; the potential generation capacity from the rooftop solar
panels would easily meet the scarcity. The surplus energy can
be transmitted through the grid to other areas where the
distributed generation facilities are not sufficient and not
feasible. The geographic locations of the research area have
been represented in figure no. 8.

Figure 8: Potential rooftop distributions in the Dhanmondi grid area
VII. CALCULATING THE POTENTIAL ELECTRICITY
GENERATION
The visual simulation and analysis after the connection of
rooftop solar PV in the grid has been completed by an
optimization tool called the Hybrid Optimization Model for
Electric Renewable (HOMER, Version 2.68 Beta). For the
analysis, HOMER needs information on system configuration
(whether off grid or grid tied), load profile, component
specifications including size and numbers, resources data,
economics, system control, emissions, constraints etc. The daily
load profile has been calculated from the data collected from
DPDC. At 19:00 hour the load is found to be the maximum. For
simplicity of the calculation and lack of data available during
study, the load profile of August 1, 2011 has been considered as
a sample load profile for the whole year. For making the data
more realistic, day to day variability has been selected as 3%.
The Dhanmondi 132/33kV susbstation has the maximum load
serving capacity of 128MW. Parameter values have been
chosen according to the market analysis of Dhaka city.

Figure 9: Average Daily Load Profile of Dhanmondi 132/33kV Substation
The whole system has been designed to be the grid
connected system. The system comprised of PV Panel, Battery,
Converter and Grid. As natural gas is the main source of the
electricity in Bangladesh, it has been selected as the supply fuel
of the grid.


Figure 10: Model of the Grid-tied PV system

Figure 11: Monthly load demand and available electric power from PV and
grid (January, 2012)
From the simulation result obtained in HOMER, it has been
considered that the total electricity production will be from both
the sources during the day time. As the PV has a significant
amount of generation in the day time, the burden will be very
less on the fossil fuel supply. Though the maximum electricity
export capacity from the fossil fuel varies from 90MW to
115MW, due to maximum use of solar potential, the pressure on
grid will be reduced extensively. At the night time electricity
will be supplied from the grid and also through the battery
storage. Thus the optimized use of the fossil fuel will be
ensured.

Figure 12: Simulation results of electricity production from grid tied
rooftop PV system
The power supplied from the PV array could be 15% of the
total electricity supply of the Dhanmondi grid. The renewable
energy policy of Bangladesh states that it is aiming to get a total
of 5% of the total generation from the renewable sources. By
introducing the rooftop solar PV systems in the urban areas, the
target can be fulfilled and also it will reduce the pressure on
fossil fuel three times more than the estimated amount. The
simulation result also signifies that the PV grid tied system is
feasible under the present policies of the government.


Figure 13: A sample of Rooftop Solar PV Installation in Dhaka
VIII. CONCLUSION
There lies a great potential for electricity generation through
rooftop grid-tie solar PV system in the urban areas of
Bangladesh. This paper has focused only a small but very
important area of the capital city Dhaka. Data collection for the
whole country and then calculating the potential power
generation from rooftop solar PV installation using the
proposed method will encourage more entrepreneurship in this
sector. A proper and systematic approach for calculating the
potential rooftop area for solar PV installation is also needed to
get an idea about the potential of the renewable energy
resources to reduce the fossil fuel consumption, thus saving the
environment and ensure a sustainable development. Side by side
the Government of Bangladesh needs to establish a suitable
guideline of grid-tied solar PV systems which will ensure more
customers choosing the system.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Acknowledgement is due to the Energy Field of Study,
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand and the
Government of Japan for the academic and financial helps.
Special thanks to Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited
(DPDC), Bangladesh for the permission for data collection.
Special thanks also extended to Mr. B.D.Rahmatullah, Visiting
Faculty, University of Asia Pacific, Dhaka, Bangladesh for
academic supports.
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