A significant step toward the urban energy transition stems from a collaboration between the University of Genoa and the City of Genoa, which have signed an agreement to create a registry of the city’s solar potential.

The project is based on the creation of an innovative system capable of estimating energy production from urban building rooftops with high precision, thanks to advanced calculation models and three-dimensional data that analyze surface insolation down to a detail of 50 centimeters, while also accounting for shading effects.

The model estimates a total photovoltaic potential of approximately 1.8 GW of installable capacity, corresponding to over 4 million photovoltaic modules that can be distributed across urban rooftops.

The solar cadastre will serve as an analytical tool but, above all, as an operational resource for citizens, businesses, and local governments, providing useful information to evaluate the installation of photovoltaic systems and contribute to renewable energy production.

The project is based on a line of research launched in 2024 within the “Solar and Geothermal Energy” group at the University of Genoa and further developed through thesis projects, which have enabled the refinement of models and algorithms for estimating urban solar potential.

The research group consists of Marco Fossa and Antonella Priarone, professors of Industrial Technical Physics at the University of Genoa, along with Samuele Memme and Stefano Morchio, researchers in the same field at the University of Genoa, and PhD candidate Caterina Gibelli

For more information, please consult the university magazine: life.unige.it