Project Title: Renewable Energy Atlas for the West

Client: Northwest SEED

Platform: ArcIMS, ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, Java, and HTML

Summary: Building on an effort to develop high-resolution wind maps of the Northwestern U.S., the Land & Water Fund of the Rockies collaborated with the Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (SEED) to produce a Renewable Energy Atlas of the West that covers wind, solar, biomass and geothermal resources in the 11-state western region. Existing facilities and policy overlays were included to show areas where incentives and other standards have been effective in driving sustainability, and it highlights areas with strong resources but limited development also.

The Renewable Energy Atlas identifies areas of transmission congestion, and develops updated power potential estimates for the various resources. A user-friendly website interface enables "zoom-in" capabilities, and provides interactive access to all of the renewable energy resource data and supporting information compiled in a single GIS database.

Result: Web-based interactive maps like this enable government planners, energy service companies, private developers, businesses, and home owners to examine resource information using the most up-to-date data available. Hopefully, it will facilitate future wind energy planning and site-location decisions, as well as technology transfer initiatives.