SlopeEXCL - Slope-based Exclusion

SlopeEXCL generates .tif files to exclude areas unsuitable for wind and solar energy placements based on slope thresholds.

Wind Turbines: Applies a uniform slope threshold across all aspects.
Solar Panels: Allows distinct thresholds for south-facing and north-east-west-facing slopes.

The generated .tif files can be integrated as exclusion layers in renewable energy planning tools like GLAES. For example, in Glaes:

ec.excludeRasterType(os.path.join(data_path, 'exclude_slope_pv.tif'), value=1, prewarp=True)

Getting Started

This repository requires a 3-arc-second resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from HydroSHEDS. Place the downloaded DEM in the data folder.

Set up Python and install the required dependencies (e.g., rasterio, numpy, scipy).

Execute the script from the terminal:

python exclude_slope.py --type [solar|wind|both] --solar-nea [value] --solar-s [value] --wind-thresh [value] --output [filename]

Example with custom values:

python exclude_slope.py --type both --solar-nea 6.28 --solar-s 33 --wind-thresh 8.53 --output exclusion.tif

To use the default values, omit the optional arguments::

python exclude_slope.py --type both

The script will then use:

exclude_slope.py: Python script for generating exclusion files.
exclude_slope.ipynb: Jupyter notebook for running the same code interactively.
data: Directory for raw input file dem.tif.
output: Directory where generated .tif files will be saved.