A review of geographic information system (GIS) and techno economic (TE) software tools for renewable energy and methodology to develop a coupled GIS-TE software tool for marine renewable energy (MRE)

Accurate and up-to-date Geographic Information System (GIS) and Techno Economic (TE) tools are pertinent to helping to develop the renewable energy sector. This paper reviews the state of the art in existing GIS and TE tools for renewable energy and proposes a methodology to develop a coupled GIS-TE software tool that is geared specifically to Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) applications and bespoke to Irish and Western UK waters. Methods for approaching GIS and TE analysis within existing tools for renewable energy are presented and compared. Many existing tools of this nature have some interesting functionalities, but most are unsuitable for MRE; are limited by a lack of information on both the technology and the site; and focus solely either on GIS or TE aspects of analysis. Additionally, almost all of those with a TE focus are not open access. The proposed tool aims to incorporate increased resolution and site relevance of resource data; the most up-to-date geospatial data for site selection; and will provide site specific TE indicators and recommendations for contemporary MRE devices. The result will be the development of an open-access GIS-TE software tool for MRE.