[Tagging] Solar farms

[François Lacombe]

Hi Andy,

2016-03-28 12:49 GMT+02:00 ajt1047 at gmail.com <ajt1047 at gmail.com>:
> On 28/03/2016 01:29, François Lacombe wrote:
>>
>> Hi Dave,
>>
>> Indeed power=generator + generator:method=photovoltaic is definitely
>> what you need.
>>
>> Just remember power=generator is intended for devices instead of
>> facilities.
>> In your case, power=generator should apply on individual photovoltaic
>> modules or on areas where several equivalent modules are installed.
>>
>> In case of a dedicated facility designed to produce electricity with
>> photovoltaic modules, you may be interested to surround the whole site
>> with a power=plant area.
>> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:power%3Dplant
>
>
> Unfortunately that wiki page is fairly impenetrable, and contains a few
> obvious issues such as "Apart of wind farms, a power plant is an industrial
> facility" (a solar array in a field might be considered "industrial", but
> what about a couple of panels in someone's back garden?  This email isn't
> much better (what would you consider a "photovoltaic module" - a panel, a
> rack containing several panels, or something smaller?).

Well, the main difference between a huge field of solar panels and a
couple of them in someone's back garden is the usage
The first is industrial and the second is for domestic usage
But landuse=* wasn't in the scope of the proposal which introduced the
power plant mapping. That's why it isn't clear that way.

According to tagging and this chart, I shouldn't use "modules" but panels.
http://www.solardirect.com/images/pv-elements.gif
power=generator + generator:method=photovoltaic + generator:type=
solar_photovoltaic_panel

Due to a lack of hi-res aerial imagery or knowledge about all panels
in the world, this can be extended to an area surrounding a group of
equivalent panels in a solar field.
http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/237589594

Finally, all power=generator nodes and areas may be surrounded by a
power=plant area if applicable (usually a fenced area).
The power=plant area may be completed by landuse=industrial
If the solar power plant isn't contained in a single perimeter, mapper
may use a power=plant relation
http://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/3501886

A wind farm isn't usually enclosed by a fence and power=plant should
be a relation but landuse=* isn't suitable on such relations.

For a couple panels in a house garden, power=plant and
landuse=industrial sounds overkill.

>
> It may be mistaken, but my impression is that tagging of these sorts of
> facilities seems to be "wandering around" to the confusion of both mappers
> and data consumers alike (see e.g. my comments on
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/changeset/34831366 ).

Wiki may be updated to be more precise on how it works.
Such questions like yours are useful to do so.

The mapping you made (v2) of the
http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/349329544/history#map=16/53.2317/-1.0879
is more compatible with wiki than the v3.
Mapper miko8 should have put power=generator on smaller areas or
directly nodes if possible. Here we have both plant:* and
power=generator on same object which is not consistent.


>
> Perhaps a series of examples of various types would help?  It'd make sense
> to concentrate on the new facilities that mappers are likely to encounter
> (around me that's wind turbines and large and small solar arrays).

Sure it helps.
Both generator and plant pages may be updated with examples used in
this discussion


Best regards

François