Microsoft, Partners Launch Solar and Wind Energy Atlas – GRW

In a major development Microsoft, Planet Labs PBC and The Nature Conservancy have announced the plans to launch the Global Renewables Watch (GRW), a first-of-its-kind living atlas intended to map and measure all utility-scale solar and wind installations on Earth.

Microsoft said that this will be done using artificial intelligence and satellite imagery that will allow users to evaluate clean energy transition progress and track trends over time.

The initial mapping of solar and wind installations will be done in Germany and India; also solar installations in Brazil and Egypt are completed. GRW will be publicly available renewable energy atlas with country-by-country insights into production progress and development trends. GRW will have to satellite data dating back to 2018 and it will be updates twice annually. The atlas will show countries’ renewable energy capacity, assist in understanding that capacity, and recognize patterns about the potential impact of the renewable energy siting on the landscape over time rather than as a moment in time.

The GRW inventory will be completed by early 2023 and the results then will undergo both scientific and technical validation. For this joint program, Microsoft is providing the AI and platform technology, Planet is contributing the underlying satellite imagery, and The Nature Conservancy is overlaying the subject-matter expertise to analyze the output.

“The theme for Climate Week NYC this year is ‘getting it done,’ and to do that, we need to move from pledges to progress,” said The Nature Conservancy’s CEO Jennifer Morris. The CEO said that GRW will help researchers and policymakers understand current capacities and gaps so that decision-makers can scale much-needed renewable energy resources in a responsible, nature-friendly way.

Microsoft said that the partners will continue to map additional countries and are aiming to build awareness of the tool among those tasked with managing the world’s clean energy transition in the weeks leading up to and during the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27, taking place in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt in November, 2022.

Juan Lavista Ferres, VP and Chief Data Scientist, Microsoft, said that GRW will serve as a critical tool for understanding humanity’s progress toward fulfilling the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and meeting the United Nations’ goal to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.