Terrain and Infrastructure Siting Bundle

Overview

The Terrain and Infrastructure Siting bundle provides specialized tools for assessing site suitability, terrain constraints, and constructability for renewable energy infrastructure, utility corridors, and linear transportation networks.

Key Concepts

Suitability Analysis

Multi-criteria evaluation combining terrain, environmental, economic, and social factors to identify optimal locations for specific infrastructure types.

Terrain Constraints

Identification and quantification of physical limitations: slope steepness, soil bearing capacity, hydrologic hazards (flooding, erosion), and geomorphic instability.

Constructability Assessment

Evaluation of development feasibility considering terrain, cost implications, environmental mitigation, and schedule risk.

Infrastructure Routing

Least-cost path and corridor analysis balancing terrain, environmental, and economic objectives.

Typical Workflows

Wind Farm Siting

  1. Acquire wind resource data (speed, direction, turbulence intensity)
  2. Identify high-wind locations (Wind Turbine Siting Analysis)
  3. Assess terrain constructability (Terrain Constructability and Cost Analysis)
  4. Evaluate environmental constraints (viewshed, habitat, noise)
  5. Optimize turbine placement and access roads

Solar Farm Development

  1. Evaluate solar irradiance and shading (Solar Site Suitability Analysis)
  2. Assess topographic slope and aspect suitability
  3. Check soil conditions and foundation requirements
  4. Plan electrical interconnection and transmission routing

Corridor Planning

  1. Define corridor endpoints and width constraints
  2. Evaluate environmental sensitivity (Corridor Mapping and Route Planning)
  3. Assess terrain for constructability (Terrain Constraint and Conflict Analysis)
  4. Identify conflict zones and alternatives
  5. Generate routing options and cost estimates

The workflow order below is a practical starting sequence that gets most teams to usable, validated outputs quickly:

  1. Solar Site Suitability Analysis
  2. Corridor Mapping and Route Planning
  3. Wind Turbine Siting Analysis
  4. Terrain Constraint and Conflict Analysis
  5. Utility Corridor Encroachment Detection
  6. Terrain Constructability and Cost Analysis

Performance Considerations

  • Spatial resolution: 10–30 m resolution sufficient for infrastructure planning; finer for detailed site design
  • Multi-criteria weighting: Weights should reflect stakeholder priorities (renewable energy, environmental protection, cost)
  • Sensitivity analysis: Test weighting variations to ensure robust siting recommendations

References

  • National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Siting Tools and Guidelines
  • ESRI Site Suitability Analysis Best Practices