The Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) entered into a tripartite agreement with Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) and Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) to promote RTPV in Bengaluru. CSTEP is using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to obtain aerial images of the city. A helicopter, coupled with a LiDAR system, flew over the city to map the RTPV potential. The flights covered almost 1,100 sq. km and captured high-resolution images, including topography, buildings and trees. These data sets will be used to generate individual digitised rooftops, which will help CSTEP determine the shadow-free area of each rooftop, by taking into account the shadow cast by neighbouring obstacles. This visualisation will be integrated into an app/Web tool, which can be used by building owners to generate accurate RTPV system designs along with the associated business cases by obtaining consumption data from BESCOM.
