Use case: energy and utilities

Selecting sites for solar parks, wind farms and plants

Satellite data narrows the search for a solar park, wind farm or plant to the sites that fit. It supplies solar radiation and wind climate, terrain, land cover and natural hazards such as ground motion. Planners combine these layers with protected areas and grid data in a multi-criteria analysis, then check the shortlisted sites on the ground.

Reference
UC-10
Technologies
  • Earth observation
  • Satellite navigation
Industry
Challenge
Site selection and planning
Updated
Published by
LETO SPACE

01Technology

How satellite data supports site selection

Choosing a site means ruling out land that cannot be used and ranking the rest. In the energy sector, Earth observation supports site selection, planning and monitoring, and helps to estimate the generation potential of solar, wind and hydropower sites. For infrastructure, satellite imagery supports the life cycle from site selection to construction and operation, and long time series help to quantify a site's exposure to natural hazards Source: EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 26 May 2026EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 126 May 2026Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu).

The method is a multi-criteria analysis. Each criterion becomes a map layer: resource, terrain, land cover, protected areas, hazards, distance to roads and grid. Hard criteria exclude land; weighted criteria rank what remains. The result is a shortlist of sites that a team then visits and surveys. For the survey, satellite positioning supported by RTK correction networks reaches centimetre-level accuracy Source: EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 26 May 2026EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 126 May 2026Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu).

Site selection as a multi-criteria analysis: each criterion becomes a map layer, hard criteria exclude land, and weighted criteria rank the rest into a shortlist for the site visit. Illustrative map, not real data.

02Data

Data and satellites

Solar resource
Satellite-based radiation time series (CAMS, PVGIS)
Wind resource
Climate reanalysis plus land cover and elevation, downscaled to wind farm scale
Terrain
Copernicus DEM, 30 m worldwide, 10 m for Europe with restricted access
Land cover
CORINE Land Cover, 44 classes, updated every six years, smallest mapped area 25 ha
Ground motion
European Ground Motion Service, millimetre-scale, from Sentinel-1 radar

Solar

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service provides solar radiation time series that help to plan large solar power farms Source: Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), accessed 6 October 2026Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)Solar energyaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens atmosphere.copernicus.eu). PVGIS calculates radiation from METEOSAT satellite data Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), accessed 8 October 2026European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)PVGIS: Data sources and calculation methodsaccessed 8 October 2026Open source (opens joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu).

Wind

For wind farm analysis, providers use the ERA5 climate reanalysis together with Copernicus land cover and elevation data, downscaled to the scale of a wind farm Source: EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 2024EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EUSPA EO and GNSS Market Report, Issue 2, 20242024Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu).

Terrain and land

The Copernicus DEM describes the surface, including buildings, infrastructure and vegetation, at 30 m worldwide and at 10 m for Europe for a restricted group of users Source: Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, accessed 6 October 2026Copernicus Data Space EcosystemCopernicus DEM: Global and European Digital Elevation Modelaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens dataspace.copernicus.eu). CORINE Land Cover maps 44 classes of land cover and land use across Europe Source: Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, accessed 6 October 2026Copernicus Land Monitoring ServiceCORINE Land Coveraccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens land.copernicus.eu).

Hazards

The European Ground Motion Service measures ground motion from Sentinel-1 radar data at millimetre scale Source: European Space Agency (ESA), 26 July 2022European Space Agency (ESA)Tap into Europe in motion (European Ground Motion Service)26 July 2022Open source (opens esa.int), which matters for plants and foundations; monitoring ground motion with InSAR explains the technique. Flood exposure is covered in mapping flood risk.

03Overview

Renewables acceleration areas

EU law now requires Member States to map land for renewable energy. Under the revised Renewable Energy Directive, they had to map the areas needed for renewable energy plants by 21 May 2025, taking into account in particular the renewable resource, the projected energy demand and the available grid and storage infrastructure. By 21 February 2026 they had to adopt plans that designate renewables acceleration areas, with priority for artificial and built surfaces such as rooftops and with Natura 2000 sites excluded Source: European Union, EUR-Lex, 18 October 2023European Union, EUR-LexDirective (EU) 2023/2413 amending Directive (EU) 2018/2001 as regards the promotion of energy from renewable sources (RED III)18 October 2023Open source (opens eur-lex.europa.eu).

For a developer, these designated areas become a layer in its own analysis. For regions, the same data supports the mapping itself.

04Deliverables

What you get

  • An exclusion map: land ruled out by protection status, land cover, slope or hazards.
  • A ranked shortlist of candidate sites, with the value of each criterion per site.
  • A profile per site: resource, terrain, ground motion and land cover, as a basis for the site visit and for talks with landowners and authorities.

05Limits

Limits

  • Limit 01

    Coarse layers miss small features

    CORINE Land Cover does not map areas smaller than 25 hectares. As of October 2026, its most recent published edition has the reference year 2018; the update for the reference year 2024 is now scheduled for publication in the first quarter of 2027 Source: Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, accessed 6 October 2026Copernicus Land Monitoring ServiceCORINE Land Coveraccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens land.copernicus.eu). Parcel-level decisions need finer and more recent land cover data or a site visit.

  • Limit 02

    The elevation model includes buildings and trees

    The Copernicus DEM is a surface model that includes buildings and vegetation Source: Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, accessed 6 October 2026Copernicus Data Space EcosystemCopernicus DEM: Global and European Digital Elevation Modelaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens dataspace.copernicus.eu), so slopes derived under forest can mislead. Detailed design needs a terrain survey.

  • Limit 03

    Not in the satellite data

    Land ownership, grid connection capacity, local permits and community acceptance decide many projects. They come from registers, the grid operator and conversations, not from orbit.

06Next steps

How we help

A site analysis is only as good as its criteria. In strategy and use cases we agree the criteria and their weights with your planning, technical and permitting teams; in requirements and procurement we specify the analysis so that providers' offers can be compared.

Spacegraph, our discovery platform, has a use-case category "Site selection & spatial planning".

07Use cases

Frequently asked questions

Q1Which satellite data is free for a site search in Europe?

Much of it. Copernicus services and data are free of charge Source: European Union, EUR-Lex, 12 May 2021European Union, EUR-LexRegulation (EU) 2021/696 of 28 April 2021 establishing the Union Space Programme and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme12 May 2021Open source (opens eur-lex.europa.eu), including the CORINE land cover inventory Source: Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, accessed 6 October 2026Copernicus Land Monitoring ServiceCORINE Land Coveraccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens land.copernicus.eu), the global 30 m Copernicus elevation model Source: Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, accessed 6 October 2026Copernicus Data Space EcosystemCopernicus DEM: Global and European Digital Elevation Modelaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens dataspace.copernicus.eu) and the ground motion data of the European Ground Motion Service Source: European Space Agency (ESA), 26 July 2022European Space Agency (ESA)Tap into Europe in motion (European Ground Motion Service)26 July 2022Open source (opens esa.int). Solar radiation is available from the European Commission's PVGIS tool Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), accessed 8 October 2026European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)PVGIS: Data sources and calculation methodsaccessed 8 October 2026Open source (opens joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu). Commercial data adds finer detail where a decision needs it.

Q2Does satellite data replace a wind measurement or a site survey?

No. For wind farm analysis, providers combine the ERA5 climate reanalysis with land cover and elevation data and downscale it to wind farm scale; such results are used in investor due diligence Source: EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 2024EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EUSPA EO and GNSS Market Report, Issue 2, 20242024Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu). This is modelled data, not a measurement at the site. Use it to rank sites, and plan measurements and surveys for the shortlist.

Q3How do we start?

Write down the criteria that rule a site in or out, and the weight of the others, before anyone looks at a map. Then run the analysis for one region and compare its shortlist with sites your team already knows well. Our consulting overview shows the path from the problem to the pilot.

Sources (9)

  1. EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 26 May 2026EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 1 (opens euspa.europa.eu)
  2. EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 2024EUSPA EO and GNSS Market Report, Issue 2, 2024 (opens euspa.europa.eu)
  3. Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), accessed 6 October 2026Solar energy (opens atmosphere.copernicus.eu)
  4. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), accessed 8 October 2026PVGIS: Data sources and calculation methods (opens joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu)
  5. Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, accessed 6 October 2026Copernicus DEM: Global and European Digital Elevation Model (opens dataspace.copernicus.eu)
  6. Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, accessed 6 October 2026CORINE Land Cover (opens land.copernicus.eu)
  7. European Space Agency (ESA), 26 July 2022Tap into Europe in motion (European Ground Motion Service) (opens esa.int)
  8. European Union, EUR-Lex, 18 October 2023Directive (EU) 2023/2413 amending Directive (EU) 2018/2001 as regards the promotion of energy from renewable sources (RED III) (opens eur-lex.europa.eu)
  9. European Union, EUR-Lex, 12 May 2021Regulation (EU) 2021/696 of 28 April 2021 establishing the Union Space Programme and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (opens eur-lex.europa.eu)

Contact

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