National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Working for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Destiny has provided a broad range of services, leading and supporting a number of diverse and interesting initiatives.

Solar Wind Energy Resource Assessments /
Geospatial Toolkit Development / Meeting Multi-National Requirements
Supporting NREL’s GIS team, Destiny provided custom programming and developed documentation to assist with software development and distribution to 13 countries participating in the United Nations Energy Program (UNEP) and the South Asia Regional Initiative on Energy. The Solar Wind Energy Resource Assessment (SWERA) application is a tool kit designed to assess potential for developing solar and wind energy resources. The tools are geared to non-technical and non-GIS users, and often people relying on English as a second language. The product is designed to install and operate in a variety system and operating environments. It also accommodates international data variances. The toolkit, created using ESRI’s Map Objects development software, makes it easy to query and interact with NREL’s renewable resource database, to conduct detailed spatial analysis, and to produce a resource assessment. The program is used or installed in Sri Lanka, Honduras, El Salvador, Bangladesh, Brazil, and others.

Destiny programming and services included:

  • Developing additional wind and solar overlay analysis tools
  • Adding or improving querying, mapping, and printing functions
  • Standardizing options to reduce the level of customization needed for different countries
  • Integrating new data sets, identifying variances or new conditions, and modifying the application to accommodate the changes
  • Testing software / debugging software
  • Ensuring reliable operation in Windows 2000 and XP operating systems
  • Making ‘help features’ and ‘help files’ accessible within the application
  • Developing easy to understand documentation (addressing language differences, and variances in familiarity with GIS)
  • Documenting the programming code and institutionalizing knowledge to facilitate future development

South Table Mountain Viewshed Analysis
Destiny provided GIS support to a viewshed analysis of the NREL campus located at the base of Table Mountain in Golden, Colorado. In conjunction with an evaluation of campus enhancements, and considering certain security issues, Destiny supported the analysis by compiling and integrating data from several sources, building a GIS model, and conducting spatial analysis to determine the visible viewshed from various points of interest. This included collecting and merging data from NREL with publicly available data identified and acquired from the USGS. This extended the coverage of the digital elevation model. Global positioning system (GPS) technology was for field data capture and to determine suitable reference points for use in data integration. Destiny incorporated the data into a single geographic projection, and developed the site model including ground-surface topography, building footprints and heights, roads, sidewalks, and other features. The data was analyzed and displayed using ESRI 3-D Analyst. This included determining visible viewsheds from several observation points, and developing line-of-sight profiles to further evaluate the areas of interest.

GIS Programming and System Administration / Supporting NREL’s Map-Enabled Websites
 Destiny provided programming and system administration services supporting map-enabled websites developed originally by NREL. This included the Energy Atlas Website and the Wind Estimator Website. The sites were developed using ESRI’s ArcIMS and ArcView IMS. Destiny provided custom programming and consulting to enhance website utility through the addition of data layers, to add query and display functionality, and to troubleshoot a range of unresolved technical issues. Additional services included upgrading one of the sites from ArcView IMS to the more recent and more robust ArcIMS platform. Destiny also supported the migration of one website from an existing server to preferred server. Because of the diversity, effectiveness, and acumen of Destiny’s programmers, Destiny was able to tailor technical support and knowledge transfer to address NREL’s specific needs, and contribute to the growth and development of NREL’s in-house GIS personnel.

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