Site screening
Solar Flood Risk Screening
Identify mapped flood exposure and define the hydrology evidence needed before layout or investment decisions.
Why this workflow matters
Flood screening should distinguish strategic reporting areas from design-level flood hazards. It also needs to consider drainage routes, erosion, equipment levels, access resilience and downstream effects.
Questions to answer
- Which flood datasets overlap the site?
- What source, return period and hazard type do they represent?
- Could safe access be lost during an event?
- What hydrology and drainage study is needed?
Recommended workflow
- 1Overlay the boundary with current authority flood datasets.
- 2Record affected area and dataset limitations.
- 3Review watercourses, low points and access routes.
- 4Commission site-specific hydrology and develop mitigation only after validation.
Evidence to collect
- ✓ Authority flood maps
- ✓ Watercourse and catchment context
- ✓ Terrain and drainage survey
- ✓ Hydrology and hydraulic modelling
Decision-ready outputs
- → Flood-screening map
- → Exposure and information-gap summary
- → Hydrology study brief
Market application
- Portugal, Spain, Italy and Germany apply different national, regional and municipal planning controls; EU-wide layers are an initial evidence layer only.
- Grid feasibility must be checked through the relevant transmission or distribution system operator, including queue, capacity, studies and connection route.
- Cadastral boundaries, land rights, local setbacks and permit status require current national or competent-authority evidence.
Worked example
Fictional reporting-area intersection
- Basis
- The candidate boundary intersects a Floods Directive reporting area but no current national depth or probability layer has been reviewed.
- Screening response
- Flag authority review and hydrology as mandatory next actions; do not treat the reporting polygon as an inundation footprint or automatic exclusion.
- Limitation
- Pluvial flooding, drainage, groundwater, climate allowances and safe access remain outside the strategic layer.
Authoritative starting points
Use these primary sources to begin verification, then obtain the current competent-authority evidence for the project market.
- European Commission — Floods Directive ↗
Strategic flood-risk reporting framework and competent-authority context
- European Commission — INSPIRE Geoportal ↗
Discovery of official European spatial datasets and metadata
Review status: SolarDev AI internal methodology review; independent technical review not yet published.