Spatial parameters and methodological approaches in solar potential assessment - State-of-the-art

This paper is a state-of-the-art literature review on spatial parameters for neighbourhood-level solar potential studies. The objective of this review study is to provide a comprehensive overview of the different types of spatial parameters used in past studies to investigate the impact of solar irradiance on neighbourhood surfaces (roofs, facades, and ground), whilst the computation of each spatial parameter is described through relevant formulaic expressions and visual representations. The review shows that most studies on this domain adopt geometrical and density parameters for representing uniform and simple neighbourhood typologies, while some recent studies use more complex and multi-dimensional parameters to capture the diversity and variability of intra-neighbourhood attributes and how the parameters may be correlated to the magnitude of the solar potential of surfaces of neighbourhood buildings. The review also highlights that studies have adopted novel parameters to represent the morphological complexity and geometrical interplay between buildings in neighbourhoods that have grown organically and without planning. The usage of the computational complex parameters contributes to insight into overshadowing that occurs due to the synergistic influences of the surrounding urban texture. Therefore, given that computationally intensive simulations are commonly used for neighbourhood solar potential assessment, this paper sheds light on the importance of adopting multi-dimensional parameters for the advancement of novel data-centric approaches to conducting such evaluations.