NREL's Open PV Project helps you pinpoint US solar installations (credit: NREL)

Did you ever wish you could know exactly where in the United States people have been putting up solar panels?  Certainly, the Internet and tools like Google Maps demonstrate how easy it is to find information on a wide variety of people and places.

So in many ways it should come as no surprise that you can now pinpoint PV installations across the U.S. with a new mapping tool from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The OpenPV Project is described as:

“a community driven database of Photovoltaic (PV) installations. The goal of this project is to collect, organize and distribute knowledge of the location, size, cost and date of every PV installation in United States.”

There are several primary features of the OpenPV Project of which you need to be aware.  First, the data it collects and displays comes from registered users.  Accordingly, values will change as more people enter information.  Second, the mapping tool presents statistics and rankings based on estimates; they do not necessarily represent actual current market status.

Gov. Schwarzenegger tours California solar panel installations (credit: NREL)

So, what can you find out using the OpenPV Project?  For any given location:

• Average cost-per-watt
• Average size of solar installations (in kilowatts).
• General locations of solar panel installs, with zip code information only (no specific addresses unless the information is of public record).
• General information to determine the solar market in your region.
• Data to analyze and draw conclusions regarding the impact of renewable energy incentive programs and tax credits.

Focusing in on solar installations just got easier with NREL's Open PV Project

Here’s the quick tutorial on how to use the OpenPV site.  Click here, and then hit the “Explore” button – you cannot miss it!

From there, you can review maps, charts and graphs that help you pinpoint PV installations, statistics and trends across the nation.  Take a broad, national view, or zoom into your state.  You can even drill down all the way to your city or neighborhood.

NREL’s unique solar mapping tool provides something different for each user.  According to Brendan Heberton of NREL in an interview with CalFinder:

“Until now, all analysis and market trends for solar PV in the U.S. have been based off aggregate numbers and estimates provided by various users. The OpenPV Project is unique in that all of our data comes from specific installs.”

“The collaboration between public, private and government to create this database and the shared access to tens of thousands of data records is truly unique.  Anyone can participate, we cannot stress this enough.  By receiving data on the same install several times, we have a greater degree of confidence in its legitimacy.”

Now you can easily find out where solar panels are being installed

In summary, the OpenPV Project will depend in large part on your contribution and the continued collaboration between individual users, organizations, solar installers, solar incentive programs and more.  The information provided is exceptionally open and accessible, which is certainly a breath of fresh air.

Do you have information on PV installations in the US?  Just register with the project and then upload your information!

Stay tuned for more new features in the coming days and weeks in 2010!  The OpenPV Project will continue to evolve this year, providing more information and analysis for a wide variety of PV installation interests.

Have you used the database?  Comments, questions or suggestions?  Share below…