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Geospatial data has driven improvements in a number of sectors, and energy is no exception. This data allows us to better understand our environment in order to promote sustainability, innovation and informed decision-making.
One of the main providers of open geospatial data is Copernicus, the European Union's Earth observation programme. Through a network of satellites called Sentinel and data from ground, sea and airborne sources, Copernicus provides geospatial information freely accessible through various platforms.
Although Copernicus data is useful in many areas, such as fighting climate change, urban planning or agriculture, in this article we will focus on its role in driving sustainability and energy efficiency. The availability of high quality open data fosters innovation in this sector by promoting the development of new tools and applications that improve energy management and use. Here are some examples.
Climate prediction to improve production
Geospatial data provide detailed information on weather conditions, air quality and other factors, which are essential for understanding and predicting environmental phenomena, such as storms or droughts, that affect energy production and distribution.
One example is this project which provides high-resolution wind forecasts to serve the oil and gas, aviation, shipping and defence sectors. It uses data from satellite observations and numerical models, including information on ocean currents, waves and sea surface temperature from the "Copernicus Marine Service". Thanks to its granularity, it can provide an accurate weather forecasting system at a very local scale, allowing a higher level of accuracy in the behaviour of extreme weather and climate phenomena.
Optimisation of resources
The data provided by Copernicus also allows the identification of the best locations for the installation of energy generation centres, such as solar and wind farms, by facilitating the analysis of factors such as solar radiation and wind speed. In addition, they help monitor the efficiency of these facilities, ensuring that they are operating at maximum capacity.
In this regard, a project has been developed to find the best site for a combined floating wind and wave energy system (i.e. based on wave motion). By obtaining both energies with a single platform, this solution saves space and reduces the impact on the ground, while improving efficiency. Wind and waves arrive at different times at the platform, so capturing both elements helps reduce variability and smoothes overall electricity production. Thanks to the Copernicus data (obtained from the Atlantic Service - Biscay Iberia Ireland - Ocean Wave Reanalysis), the provider of this situation was able to obtain separate components of wind and wave waves, which allowed a more complete understanding of the directionality of both elements. This work led to the selection of Biscay Marine Energy Platform (BiMEP). for the deployment of the device.
Another example is Mon Toit Solaire, an integrated web-based decision support system for the development of rooftop photovoltaic power generation. This tool simulates and calculates the energy potential of a PV project and provides users with reliable technical and financial information. It uses solar radiation data produced by the "Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service", together with three-dimensional urban topographic data and simulations of tax incentives, energy costs and prices, allowing the return on investment to be calculated.
Environmental monitoring and impact assessment.
Geospatial information allows for improved environmental monitoring and accurate impact assessments in the energy sector. This data allows energy companies to identify environmental risks associated with their operations, design strategies to mitigate their impact and optimise their processes towards greater sustainability. In addition, they support environmental compliance by providing objective data-driven reporting, encouraging more responsible and environmentally friendly energy development.
Among the challenges posed by the conservation of ocean biodiversity, man-made underwater noise is recognised as a serious threat and is regulated at European level. In order to assess the impact on marine life of wind farms along the southern coast of France, this project uses high-resolution statistical sound maps, which provide a detailed view of coastal processes, with an hourly time frequency and a high spatial resolution of up to 1.8 km. In particular, they use information from the "Mediterranean Sea Physics Analysis and Forecasting" and "World Ocean Hourly Sea Surface Wind and Stress" services.
Emergency and environmental disaster management.
In disaster situations or extreme weather events, geospatial data can help quickly assess damage and coordinate emergency responses more efficiently.
They can also predict how spills will behave. This is the aim of the Marine Research Institute of the University of Klaipeda, which has developed a system for monitoring and forecasting chemical and microbiological pollution episodes using a high-resolution 3D operational hydrodynamic model. They use the Copernicus "Physical Analysis and Forecasts of the Baltic Sea". The model provides real-time, five-day forecasts of water currents, addressing the challenges posed by shallow waters and port areas. It aims to help manage pollution incidents, particularly in pollution-prone regions such as ports and oil terminals.
These examples highlight the usefulness of geospatial data, especially those provided by programmes such as Copernicus. The fact that companies and institutions can freely access this data is revolutionising the energy sector, contributing to a more efficient, sustainable and resilient system.
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In the current economic, social and technological context, where everything changes at high speed, citizens demand agile and flexible services. The influence of native digital companies, adapted to the specific needs of their customers, thanks to the use of algorithms and cutting-edge technological solutions, is forcing traditional companies to transform.
Public administrations are aware of this situation, so they are also changing to better meet citizens’ demands. Open data is one of the resources that public agencies can use to achieve this goal. Thanks to open data, administrations can promote transparency and citizen participation, optimize their resources and improve their efficiency.
Nowadays, we can see some projects that are an example of the role that open data can play in the modernization of public administrations:
Increased transparency
A large number of public institutions - at national, regional and local level- have implemented portals that allow citizens to first-hand know how public administrations carry out their activity. In this way, significant improvements in transparency and accountability are being obtained. This is the case of Presupuestos de Aragón or Lo que tú aportas, created by Valladolid city. Using this tools, citizens can indicate the amount of taxes that they pay and discover how the money is distributed.
The higher availability of information also drives citizens possibilities of directly participating in the system. It is increasingly common to find collaborative platforms focused on specific issues that serve as a tool to enable new communication channels between citizens and governments, facilitating their active participation in policy-making. An example is TIPI, an on-line transparency, information access and accountability tool. Created by civil society, TIPI is focused on monitoring all Spanish parliamentary activity related to 21 thematic areas such as poverty, social justice or sustainable development.
In addition, open data portals also facilitate the work of journalists and media to inform citizens. You can find multiple examples in the data journalism channel of Madrid open data portal.
Efficiency improvements
But open data does not just help improve transparency. Disseminating information about municipal services, for example, helps their promotion and may increase the number of users who enjoy such services. In addition, knowing how these services are used can be used to identify areas for improvement, optimize their operation and better plan resources.
For this reason, different governments have created applications to inform about the municipal services that they offer, as Junta al día, a new information channel to know the most important news about the Junta de Extremadura, or Eventos Smart Coruña that provides an agile access to both public and private cultural information related to the city.
In addition, through the reuse of open data, citizens, companies and organizations can also create different applications that optimize administration and citizens’ relationship. These applications usually integrate information from different sources (local, regional and state), facilitating a global vision. An example is Perfildelcontratante.es, a service of notices about bids, awards, and private projects that promotes the participation of small and medium enterprises in the public procurement processes. In addition, Papelea is a web platform that seeks to help users to speed up their procedures with different public agencies nationwide. Papelea integrates open data from more than 60 local, regional and state administrations, including deadlines, forms to be completed, electronic procedure, date of update or contact information, among others.
Many of these applications or platforms aim to accelerate public procedures, driving self-management, so resources can be dedicated to other value-add activities, such as subasta BOE, which allows citizens to participate in online auctions, or AppValència, which facilitates direct access to virtual City of Valencia office to consult instances, records, pattern and pending procedures.
Improvement in decision making
Another advantage that public administrations can obtain from the use of open data is the identification of patterns to support decision making. For example, there are interesting experiences using the analysis of people movements in different areas to make strategic decisions for tourism promotion.
In this sense, in recent months, tools have been created to help optimize data collection, such as Málaga City Sense, an open data platform that collects information from the urban environment thanks to citizens’ collaboration and through different devices located in the city. The users act as sensors, generating data through a mobile application that collects information related to temperature, humidity or noise, in an anonymously and safely way. These data are shared with Málaga open data portal and can be used by the authorities to improve decision making.
As we have seen, thanks to open data, public administrations can also obtain direct benefits such as the optimization of their processes and services, the promotion of transparency, the active participation of citizens in public policies or the improvement of decision-making, among others.
An increasing number of public authorities rely on data to promote innovation inside and outside the administration. To continue working along the same lines, it will be necessary to continue promoting collaboration between administrations and citizens to develop and test new solutions or services that will drive a new era of data-driven policies.