Germany
PartialBfN protected areas active
Seven national BfN designation layers are assessed from the validated PostGIS snapshot; Natura 2000 remains a separate criterion.
Methodology disclosure
GIS screening methodology and validation status
SolarDev AI publishes what the screening index uses, what it does not establish and how each saved run preserves its evidence.
- Methodology owner
- SolarDev AI
- Current index version
- v1.7
- Independent review
- Not yet published
Market evidence packs
Country coverage without false confidence
European foundation sources are active. National authority packs are tracked separately because planning, flood, grid and environmental evidence differs by market and must be versioned before it can be treated as connected coverage.
Spain
PartialFoundation sources active
National planning, flood, grid and regional designation connectors remain to be verified.
Portugal
PartialRAN checked separately; REN pending
RAN intersection screening uses a user-supplied GeoPackage when its release is active. REN is a separate unavailable check until its own dataset is loaded. Mapped RAN non-overlap does not establish legal clearance or complete national coverage. LNEG favourable planning context and terrain use their own sources.
Implemented means the connector exists. Loaded means a release is available in the running service. Validated means documented checks have passed for that release and scope. These are separate statuses; this page does not confirm the live import state. Each analysis lists the source release it used and any unavailable sources.
Independent-review readiness
The review pack will include the methodology version, source register, test cases, known limitations and change log. Status remains “not independently reviewed” until a named competent reviewer, scope and date are published.
Submit an official dataset or review enquiry →Accountability and status
SolarDev AI owns and maintains the current deterministic screening methodology. Every immutable run records its methodology version, source coverage, retrieval dates, criterion evidence and unavailable sources.
No independent named engineering reviewer or certification is currently published for methodology v1.7. The index must therefore be treated as internally developed screening logic, not an independently validated feasibility opinion.
A future independent review will be identified by reviewer, competence, scope, date and reviewed methodology version. The site will not imply that review before it is complete.
How to reproduce the index
In a saved GIS project, Calculate runs every applicable criterion in one request. The checklist below the map shows which sources returned a result, the criterion finding and its contribution to the index. A checkmark confirms a completed check, not an unconstrained site; unavailable sources are identified separately.
Each available criterion receives a score from 0 to 100. The index is the sum of score × weight divided by the sum of available weights, rounded to one decimal place. Missing sources are excluded from both sums and never receive a favourable default. Applicable weights total 100 for each market.
| Criterion | Applies to | Weight | Score rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natura 2000 | All markets | 15% | Overlap: none = 100; >0–1% = 40; >1–10% = 15; >10% = 0. |
| National designations | Outside Portugal | 15% | Outside Portugal: overlap none = 100; >0–1% = 50; >1–10% = 15; >10% = 0. Germany uses BfN. |
| RAN agricultural reserve | Portugal | 7.5% | Portugal: mapped RAN overlap none = 100; >0–1% = 50; >1–10% = 15; >10% = 0. The supplied snapshot's completeness is unverified. |
| REN ecological reserve | Portugal | 7.5% | Portugal: the same overlap bands apply once a REN release is loaded. Until then this check is unavailable and excluded from score normalization. |
| Flood risk reporting areas | All markets | 10% | Reporting-area intersection = 25; no returned intersection = 100. This is not flood probability or depth. |
| Worldwide protected areas (WDPA) | All markets | 15% | WDPA polygon overlap: none = 100; >0–1% = 40; >1–10% = 15; >10% = 0. Unavailable until commercial-use permission is configured. |
| Main-road proximity | All markets | 10% | On-site (≤1 m) = 50; near (≤1 km) = 100; moderate (≤5 km) = 75; remote = 40; not found = 20. |
| Transmission-line proximity | All markets | 10% | On-site (≤1 m) = 60; near (≤2 km) = 100; moderate (≤10 km) = 75; remote = 40; not found = 20. |
| Substation proximity | All markets | 10% | On-site (≤1 m) = 70; near (≤5 km) = 100; moderate (≤15 km) = 80; remote = 50; not found = 25. Infrastructure search radius: 15 km. |
| Terrain slope | All markets | 15% | High risk = 20 if average slope >10°, p90 >15° or north-facing mask ≥25%. Otherwise medium = 60 if average >5°, p90 >8° or any mask is present. Otherwise low = 100. |
Criterion status: favourable at 80–100, caution at 50–<80, constraint below 50; unavailable when no score is returned. Index bands: lower mapped exposure at 80–100, further review at 60–<80, material mapped constraints below 60. No available criteria means no index.
Available criteria (weighted) is the sum of weights for criteria with results. It measures response availability, not geographic completeness, accuracy or freshness. The legacy stored confidence field is derived only from this measure: high at ≥95%, medium at ≥70%, otherwise low. It is not independent evidence-quality validation.
Worked fictional example: the sample has 60 available weight points and a weighted contribution of 44.5 out of 100. Normalizing gives 44.5 ÷ 60 × 100 = 74.2/100, or further review. The 4 unavailable criteria still require follow-up.
Distances are from the site boundary. A returned “not found” result is different from an unavailable service and does not prove that an asset or constraint is absent. The north-facing terrain mask uses the selected slope threshold (default 5°). LNEG candidate areas and PVGIS yield are context, not index criteria. The index is not a probability of approval or project success.
Source hierarchy and limits
| Evidence group | Current source | Screening use | Professional limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| German national designations | Bundesamt für Naturschutz (BfN) | National designation intersections from an active database snapshot | Snapshot availability and validation must be checked per release; Natura 2000 is scored separately. |
| Portugal RAN reserve | User-supplied RAN GeoPackage | Agricultural reserve intersection screening from an active RAN snapshot | REN is a separate unavailable check until loaded. The RAN file represents 248 municipalities; its original publication source, date, licence and national completeness have not been verified. A mapped non-overlap is not a legal clearance. |
| Portugal REN reserve | No active REN dataset | Separate ecological reserve intersection check | The REN check is shown as unavailable and excluded from the index until a verified REN release is loaded. |
| Portugal renewable candidate areas | Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia (LNEG) | Favourable planning context, displayed in green with scenario labels | Requires an imported active snapshot. Candidate status adds no scoring penalty or bonus, cancels no constraints and does not establish approval. |
| European designations | European Environment Agency | Natura 2000 and nationally designated-area intersection screening | National and regional authority datasets remain necessary before decisions. |
| Worldwide protected areas | UNEP-WCMC and IUCN WDPA polygon FeatureServer | Protected-area polygon intersection when licensed access is enabled | Commercial use requires prior written UNEP-WCMC permission. Point-only records are excluded; WDPA may overlap Natura 2000 and national checks. |
| Flood reporting context | European Environment Agency | Floods Directive reporting-area intersection | Reporting areas are not inundation, probability, depth or drainage maps. |
| Infrastructure | OpenStreetMap contributors via Overpass | Proximity and mapped-feature context | Coverage and tagging vary; absence is not evidence of absence or grid capacity. |
| Terrain | National terrain agencies with Mapzen global fallback | Country-aware elevation, adaptive slope grid and user-selected terrain mask | Regional accuracy depends on a connected, licensed Terrarium tile set; every run reports the source actually used. |
| Solar resource | European Commission Joint Research Centre PVGIS v5.3 | Indicative centroid specific yield and TMY data | Not a project layout, loss model, P50/P90 or bankable energy-yield assessment. |
The worldwide check uses the WDPA polygon layer only when written commercial-use permission is configured. See the Protected Planet terms.
Sample evidence
Inspect the output structure
The downloadable sample is fictional and demonstrates the index calculation, area assumptions and matching constraint register. It is not a real site finding, professional opinion or independently reviewed project report.