Project manual – fundaments of the project
Ing. Leoš Gál, Ing. Ivan Novotný, Ing. Vladimír Papaj, Ph.D.
(Translated and shortened: Lukas Pacek, MSc.)
Manual structure:
1, General project characterization (goals, priorities, outcomes, users, fundamental IS
principles
2, Methodology (IS content):
3, IS from users viewpoint
General project characterization
Preamble:
Considering the depletion of global fossil fuel sources and rapid technological progress of China and
India the rapid development of renewable energy sources in traditionally developed regions could be
expected. The production of energy from biomass widely affects the quality of soil fund, food
security, biodiversity etc. From this angle, the biomass is the area of Renewable Energy Sources
(RES), which deserves qualified and well-structured approach, which would consider possible
negative impacts of biomass energy utilization for future generations. Other risk which threatens the
area of bioenergy (energy produced from biomass) is uncontrollable competition from the final
utilization of energy (heat sector, electricity production, transport, etc…). However, this is just one of
the potentials of RES.
If we want to learn from mistakes made during recent RES implementation in Czech Republic and to
avoid them within the sector of biomass, it will be appropriate to direct and regulate this strategic
sector on the basis of scientific research and not to leave it for free competition environment with its
narrow energetic perspective
RESTEP offers the potential of systematic approach to RES and establishment of rules for regional RES
energy utilization in cooperation with field specialists.
Goals of RESTEP project:
Establishment of the sophisticated and expert tool which would serve as a background for decisionmaking processes leading optimization of RES utilization on regional level. RESTEP will take into
consideration all relevant viewpoints, such as long-term sustainability and impacts on the
environment. The tool will utilize all necessary knowledge areas relevant to RES and then build the
RES strategy of exact region on its specifications and given facts.
Priorities of RESTEP project
The main priority of the RESTEP project consists in complex and broad approach during the analysis
of the facts relevant for RES utilization. All available data regarding RES will be interconnected within
the IS system of RESTEP. The data analysis will be performed with respect to regional specifications
and individual needs of particular user. And the interconnection of all available data regarding RES
accessible for every territory in Czech Republic from the size of municipality is the main value of the
project. The project considers the fact, that each locality has distinct character and it is defined by
“its own” data specific values.
Outcomes of RESTEP project
The main outcome is the expert Information System (IS) RESTEP designated to support the decisionmaking process of RES utilization on regional basis. The analysis of each territory through RESTEP
system accounts all relevant viewpoints considering long-term sustainability and environmental
effects.
IS RESTEP is be designed in the way, which will guarantee the complex evaluation of all relevant facts
with regard to RES within the context of regional specifications, nature conservation and the specific
needs of system users. We assume that the system will be widely used by public administration as
well as private sector of investors and entrepreneurs.
With respect to the goals and priorities of the project the IS RESTEP has to be designed in a way,
which enables its massive utilization by targeted groups of users. Therefore, it will be implemented
as an interactive web application accessible to internet users through common web browsers.
With respect to the fact that the majority of relevant data and information is spatially localized, the
IS RESTEP will be implemented on a platform of the Map Server (MS), which will enable projection
and analysis of relevant data in a form of geographical layers and spatial database.
Because the IS RESTEP has the ambition to become a tool for support of decision-making processes,
it has to be designed in the way, which offers to the end user not only the depiction of spatial data,
but the complex interpreted information. Therefore, the IS will contain the interpretation module
with the ability to analyze relevant data and information, to interpret them and to offer possible
solutions.
In order to make IS RESTEP capable to evaluate and interpret the analysis results and to seek for
possible solutions, it must contain the expert knowledge and decision-making structures.
Targeted user groups:
It is assumed that the project outcomes will be utilized on different levels of government and public
administration during the strategic planning and monitoring as well as on entrepreneurial basis
during the investment planning and optimization.
The examples of possible utilization of project outcomes by targeted groups of users
1) Government administration:
- Biomass action plan
- Coordination of food and energy production in regions
- Biomass potential and a potential of other RES utilization
- Soil fund protection
2) Local public administration – town mayors (coordination of RES with spatial planning)
3) Entrepreneurs (optimization of location and dimension of the investment
4) Expert offices (R&D models)
Basic principles of IS RESTEP – using procedure
1) Choice of location – the user interactively chooses his/hers location of interest through the
GIS mapping environment. The smallest unit of choice is the cadastral unit of each
municipality
2) Evaluation of location – (descriptive statistic) – the basic statistic of the location will be
processed from available data. The goal is to provide user all basic information of descriptive
character about the location of his/hers interest, such as:
- Population
- Available sources
- Protected natural areas
3) Specification of analysis extent – user specifies, what kind of analysis from which area of
interest he/she seeks or alternatively user inputs specified parameters for analysis which
suppose or require interactivity with the user
4) Analysis of available and relevant data will be performed – the IS executes the analysis of
necessary data and information relevant for chosen topics, evaluates parameters input via
interactive regime and prepares the results for the processing of outputs (the computing part
of analysis):
- Results of spatial analysis
- Statistical evaluation
- Summarization
5) Evaluation of analysis results – the IS assess and interprets the analysis results on the basis
expert knowledge from database with the aim to provide foundations for suggestion of
possible solutions to the user:
- Interpretation of analysis results
- Recommendations
- Prediction
Methodology (IS content):
Fundamental (expert) data layers refer to energetic potential of RES sources in a targeted territory.
Considering the environment of Czech Republic the following RES sources with energetic potential
are taken into account:
1) Solar energy
2) Wind energy
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
Energy crops and biomass
Fast - growing wood
Wood harvesting rests and waste
Processed animal waste (excrements, rendering plant fats, meat and bone meal)
Crops processing waste (grains, sugar processing waste, melasse, etc.)
Food processing industry waste (draff, spent grains)
Bio - degradable waste (household waste, industry, catering, landfills)
WWTP concentrated sludge
Cellulose liquors
Algae
Small Hydro – power plants, streams, rivers
Geothermal energy and heat pumps
The basic principles of IS RESTEP function is the quantification of each RES source potential in
targeted region on the basis of available data. Firstly, the theoretical potential of each source is
quantified and subsequently reduced with environmental, administrative, legislative and other
limitations valid in targeted sector. Further, other concerns regarding given RES potential such as the
land use for crops production etc. are taken into account. The final result considering all limitations
and different interests in targeted region – the utilization potential is evaluated.
Theoretical potential is the amount of energy, which could be theoretically gained from RES through
application of available technological tools. Therefore, the theoretical potential is limited only by
technological boundaries. It could be easily calculated e. g. as area multiplied by unit production).
Reduction bloc - the set of limiting factors, which decrease the theoretical potential towards the real
RES potential:
-
Limits of a source utilization by means of long-term sustainability given by expert
knowledge (expert limits)
Limitation of a source utilization by means of biodiversity nature conservation
Externally defined limits – legislation, spatial planning, public administration, etc.
Recent RES utilization (energetic or other)
Utilization potential is the potential still available accounting its limitation for other purposes
(energy production and others) based on priorities of natural source utilization in targeted region
(agricultural land use for food production).
The basic project investigators task is therefore the quantification of each RES potential in given
region or territory with respect to long – term sustainability. That means to quantify theoretical
potential and simultaneously define limits, which should be considered with respect to long – term
sustainability.
Homogenization of outcomes
It is evident, that each expert area used in the IS RESTEP has distinctively different materialistic
fundaments. The broadness of particular areas divergences is often too great to easily enable their
unification in one outcome, but it is necessary to accomplish that. Therefore the outcomes
unification has to be processed in a digital form. Fulfilling of this condition subsequently enables the
conjugation of outcome results. In the area of RES energy the homologation unit is the unit of energy
(MJ or GJ, alternatively KW or MW)
User viewpoint
The process IS RESPTEP utilization by end user is following:
Choice of territory:
The choice of the land territory is the principal from user viewpoint. Once this is defined, the IS starts
to generates outcomes. With respect to the IS RESTEP construction as a GIS system in internet
environment, a user has an option to define the location interactively:
1) Spatially – geographically: The choice of territory will proceed through the interactive
map. A user has the possibility to mark the area of interest and to add or remove
particular cadastral units. The marking of particular land unit could be performed by a
circle with given radius or through a polygon
2) By means of attributes: User chooses a land unit according to particular attribute (e. g.: a
number or a name of cadastral unit or bigger territory – district, county etc.)
Choice of outcome composition
According to a user, the outcomes could be distinct from two points of view:
-
Interaction of data layers is not necessary: statistic, analytic or summary
outcomes, which could predict to a certain degree.
Interaction is required: parameters are input by a user –recommending,
predicting and simulating outcomes.
User comfort
In case, the given outcome parameters are not in accordance with user intentions the procedure of
choice will be repeated. User can input adjusted size of territory, which could be expected to better
fit in user requirements. This procedure of result précising is tightly bound to chosen territory. The
procedure of choice could be repeated in following rounds of choice until a user is satisfied with the
results, or respectively, until better results couldn’t be given by any further territory adjustment.