Technical and Economical Photovoltaic Potential Assessment on Flat Roofs in urban area Case study: Casablanca, Morocco

Satisfying energy requirements in its most suitable form is the great challenge of the world in the 21st century. Moroccan authorities are fully aware about this challenge and works to promote the use of renewable energy sources, particularly solar energy. In this context, this study aims to assess and calculate the technical and economical photovoltaic potential in urban environment and locate suitable roofs for the installation of solar system. To achieve this goal, this study requires the use of solar radiation tool and a 3D model (DSM) generated from a vectorized Orthophoto derived from Photogrammetric restitution. The solar radiation is developed by Solar Analyst ArcGIS tool. The average technical and economical PV potential on each roof is calculated for the most common solar panel technologies (Monocrystalline Mono-Si and Polycrystalline Poly-Si). The applicability of this methodology demonstrated in a selected urban area in Casablanca, Morocco and can be generalized to any other region. The results can be an initial assessment of the solar potential in the city that can be used to support management decision regarding investment in solar system in urban environment.