The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is pivotal for addressing climate change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Among renewable sources, solar energy holds particular promise: abundant, versatile, and capable of transforming energy systems worldwide. Yet unlocking its full potential requires overcoming technological, economic, and social challenges — from integrating solar into existing infrastructures and managing intermittency, to ensuring fair financing and building public trust.

A Platform for Innovation

The National Observatory of Athens (NOA), supported inter alia by the research project ThinkingEarth (Copernicus Foundation Models for a Thinking Earth), funded by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) under Horizon Europe, provides a suite of innovative services and solutions that assist decision‑making in the energy sector.

Within this framework, the Renewable Energy Applications group SOLEA of the Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development (IERSD/NOA) is developing the first solar cadastre for the entire Greek territory. This cadastre offers a geometric mapping of solar energy potential at the level of each urban block, based on rooftop photovoltaic installations. It highlights how modern Earth‑observation data and methods can drive climate adaptation and mitigation, while keeping social cohesion at the forefront.

Planning and Management

Solea delivers value in two primary ways:

• Planning: Identifying optimal sites for solar parks and rooftop systems, evaluating atmospheric conditions, and predicting generation potential exploiting Earth Observation data and methods.

• Management: Supporting operators and grid managers with short‑ and medium‑term forecasts of solar output, ensuring efficient dispatch and grid stability.

The platform combines high‑resolution interdisciplinary datasets, advanced visualization systems, radiation propagation models, and cloud‑based supercomputing architectures. It operates both climatologically and in real time, facilitating urban planning, supporting distribution managers, and enabling effective integration into smart grids.

Global Reach

Through the SOLEARTH service, Solea provides remote monitoring and forecasting (±6 hours) of distributed photovoltaic energy production on a global scale. Using satellite, ground‑based, and large‑scale simulation data, combined with machine learning and digital twin technologies, this operational solution offers a targeted alternative for energy planning and management worldwide.

Potential users include transmission and distribution operators, producers and investors, as well as policy makers shaping energy transition strategies. Key applications of SOLEARTH include:

• Building resilience and self‑sufficiency in vulnerable countries facing climate change.

• Efficient integration of solar energy into local and regional grids.

• Expanding renewable penetration to combat energy poverty.

• Increasing the share of solar systems in total energy supply for a sustainable, human‑centered future.

Partnerships and Global Coverage

Solea’s services are already being tested in Greek and Austrian energy communities and net-zero buildings, in Egypt focusing on the Benban Solar Park, in the Mediterranean countries, in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Pacific States (ClimSA).