Towards a Renewable Energy Source Cadastre—A Review of Examples from around the World

Abstract

In the age of the impending climate crisis, and further forecast ecological catastrophes, humankind has begun to think with growing interest about replacing existing energy sources with renewable ones. An increasing number of people have begun to discuss the need to implement registries that collect information about the energy potential of specific parts of the environment we live in. Additionally, the simultaneous registration of installations used for obtaining energy from alternative sources is desirable. In addition to quantitative attributes, such databases should also contain comprehensive spatial information. Since, in the era of globalization, the creation of such databases ought to be standardized, the purpose of this study is to indicate the directions in which the cadastre of renewable energy sources should be developed by: (i) reviewing the solutions of renewable energy sources that have been described in the scientific literature; (ii) analyzing the content of selected geoportals containing data on renewable energy sources. The literature review was preceded by a detailed bio-metric analysis, whereas the content analysis of the geoportals led to the creation of a flow chart containing a proposal for a renewable energy source cadastre, and a ranking of the analyzed portals. Nevertheless, the conceptual work was limited to the solar cadastre only.