How to create a new surface from current DEM for photovoltaic park implementation.

[VASILEIOSANTONIADIS]

Helllo,

I am currently working on a  project that regards a photovoltaic park implementation.I need  to create, from a current DEM, a new surface which resembles the existing ground but in a way that the implementation of the panels will be possible. This means that with the least possible earthwork, the new surface will have  form  able for this application. By filling sinks or cutting ground we must form sections of unique slope across each polygon. 

I tried to work with the ''topo to raster' or the ''spline'' interpolation functions in ArcMap, but the new surface that I get does not have a unique slope or at least a constant slope for some distance of each polygon, and so it will be quite impossible to be constructed in the field. I think the best thing would be the new surface to present a form of a multipolygon that in each section, each polygon will have its one (according to the specific ground section) unique slope and these sections will demonstrate the existing ground in a more costruction friendly way. 

[DanPatterson]

cut and fill?

How Cut Fill works—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

[Anonymous User]

Hi  Vasileios:

This is an interesting problem.

One approach might be to switch to a Tin. Decimate it to a resolution appropriate for your panel spacing, then raise or lower tin vertices (somehow) as needed. 

In the raster world, it might work to resample the raster to a coarser resolution (the resolution corresponding to the size of a panel 'parcel'. Then run 'Slope' tool on that resampled raster. You'll get a single slope value for each of the larger cells. After that, you could play with raising or lowering the coarser elevation raster to find out a version which minimizes the amount of earth to be moved (by using cut-full against the original hi-res raster, as dan suggests).

Regards,

-Jim TenBrink

spatial analyst team