Rapid Electrification Model (REM) – Solar

Project Highlights

KWL’s Rapid Electrification Model (REM) – Solar is a Geographic Information System (GIS) planning and analysis tool developed to rapidly identify and evaluate solar energy opportunities across large geographic areas or many sites.  Building on the success of KWL’s award-winning Rapid Hydropower assessment Model (RHAM), REM enables communities, utilities, Indigenous Nations, developers, and infrastructure owners to rapidly identify, assess, and prioritize solar energy opportunities.

REM integrates a wide range of datasets including solar resource information, topography, land use, building information, environmental constraints, utility infrastructure, and electrical interconnection data. By combining these datasets within a single GIS-based framework, REM can quickly screen large numbers of potential sites and identify locations with the greatest potential for solar energy development.

A key feature of REM is its ability to assess the integration with battery energy storage systems (BESS) and utility net billing and net metering programs.

REM – Solar has been applied for KWL clients such as Metro Vancouver, Parksville, and Xwisten First Nation (Bridge River Band).

REM provides preliminary assessments of solar generation capacity, annual energy production, greenhouse gas reduction potential, interconnection requirements, and project economics.