A GIS framework for interdisciplinary environmental impact analysis of photovoltaic systems in Sicily

Giovanni De Giorgio¹, Alberto D’Agostino¹, Gianfranco Di Pietro², Antonio Aruta³ & Gaetano Ortolano^1
1University of Catania, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Corso Italia, 57, Catania, Italia.
²University of Catania, Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Via S. Sofia, 64, Catania, Italia.
³Esri Italia S.p.A., Via Casilina, 98, Roma, Italia.
Corresponding author e-mail: alberto.dagostino@unict.it

The rapid expansion of industrial photovoltaic (PV) systems raises questions about their actual environmental sustainability, especially in regions with high agricultural and ecological value like Sicily. This research provides a new customized, scalable, GIS-based approach for evaluating environmental impact of ground-mounted PV installations using geomatics techniques. The developed framework integrates solar radiation analysis with assessment of territorial constraints derived from legal and environmental regulations in force in the studied area. The integrated tools, available in ArcGIS Pro, useful for generating radiation maps, include: a) the Raster Solar Radiation tool and b) spatial interpolations of daily solar radiation data, opportunely adjusted by aspect correction. Finally, a WebGIS was developed to share the results and provide an assessment of areas suitable for installation.

advanced geomatics, WebGIS, Renewable energy, photovoltaic potential calculation, customizable GIS toolbox.