Utility-scale solar · land suitability

Screen the region before you drive out.

Slope, aspect, size, shape, land cover and flood tests run on every parcel in your region, returned as a pass/fail table with the failing test named.

Start a pilotSee the files

Spec table7 rows

GSD
High, 0.5–2 m
Cadence
Annual per region, more often on request
Platform
High-res satellite
Spectral
Multispectral
Unit
Parcel
Output
Pass/fail per test, per parcel
Thresholds
Set by you
§1

What comes back

Ref
F-01
Deliverable
Parcel table
Format
Table (CSV or GeoPackage attribute table)
What's in it
One row per parcel in your region. A column for each test (slope, aspect, size, shape, land cover, water and flood exclusion) holding pass or fail, plus an overall verdict. The parcel ID is the one from your assessor file, so the table joins back to your own layer.
Ref
F-02
Deliverable
Test breakdown
Format
Columns in the parcel table
What's in it
For every failed parcel, the test that failed is named, so you can see whether you lost it to slope, to a wetland edge or to its shape. Nothing is collapsed into a single score.
Ref
F-03
Deliverable
Region run
Format
One run per region
What's in it
Your region is screened once, or on a standing basis each year. A second region is a second run. Thresholds you set are recorded with the run so a later re-screen compares like with like.
Ref
F-04
Deliverable
Parcel layer
Format
GeoPackage or shapefile
What's in it
The same pass/fail result attached to parcel geometry, ready to open in ArcGIS or QGIS and filter to the survivors for the land agent's map.

F-01parcel table columns

  • parcel ID
  • slope
  • aspect
  • size
  • shape
  • land cover
  • water and flood exclusion
  • overall verdict

pass fail

§2

How it works

  1. IN01/04

    You supply

    The region boundary, your parcel file, and your thresholds for each test.

  2. RUN02/04

    We run the screen

    High-res multispectral imagery for the region is classified for land cover and open water. Slope and aspect are derived per parcel. Each parcel is then tested against your thresholds.

  3. OUT03/04

    What comes back

    The parcel table and parcel layer, with the failing test named on every parcel that did not pass.

  4. REPEAT04/04

    Next pass

    Each year the region is screened again on the same thresholds, or sooner if you ask.

§3

Limits

Ref
L-01
Condition
Physical suitability only
Effect on the output
A pass means the parcel clears the physical tests you set. It says nothing about permitting, zoning, interconnection or whether the owner will talk to you.
Ref
L-02
Condition
0.5–2 m is the floor
Effect on the output
Land cover, open water and parcel shape resolve at this scale. A narrow drainage ditch, a hedgerow or a single outbuilding may not.
Ref
L-03
Condition
Annual is the cadence
Effect on the output
One pass per region per year, more often on request. A parcel that changes between passes (a field cleared, a building added) shows up at the next one.
Ref
L-04
Condition
Cloud and season
Effect on the output
A cloudy pass or a leaf-off or snow-covered scene can change what land cover reads as. The delivery says which scene each region was screened from.
Ref
L-05
Condition
Small and irregular parcels
Effect on the output
They are tested the same way, but size and shape results sit close to your thresholds. These need a closer manual look at the boundary, and the screen does not replace it.
Ref
L-06
Condition
Flood extent
Effect on the output
The table tests flood exclusion as set up for your run. It is not a flood study and does not replace a mapped flood determination or a survey.
§4

Why this exists

A GIS analyst pulls the county assessor parcels, lays slope, land cover and flood zones over them and works through the survivors one at a time. It takes analyst days, and the shortlist still reaches the land agent with parcels nobody could rule out from a desk. Every wrong parcel on the list is a drive and a conversation with an owner that went nowhere. This screen runs the physical tests across the whole region at once and hands the analyst a table to check, not a pile to build.

Dry fields and a line of trees behind a roadside fence on the high plains
Fig. A. Scenery: farm ground seen from a county road.
§5

Who it's for

Who it's for

  • Land acquisition managers and originators at solar developers and IPPs who need a first-pass shortlist across a region.
  • GIS analysts on those teams who would rather review a pass/fail table than build the intersections by hand.

Who it's not for

  • Teams that need a parcel to be permit-ready, interconnection-confirmed or financeable. This is a physical screen.
  • Distance to a substation or a line. The screen does not look at the grid.
  • Yield, MW or return estimates.
  • Single-site design work. Racking layout and grading plans need survey data.
§6

Questions from the GIS and procurement side

Q01Does a pass mean the site is permit-ready?

No. It means the parcel cleared the physical tests you set. Permitting and interconnection are separate work.

Q02Which tests are run?

Slope, aspect, size, shape, land cover, and water and flood exclusion.

Q03Who sets the thresholds?

You do. The slope cut-off, the minimum size, the land cover that counts against a parcel (wetland, dense forest, existing built cover, for instance) are yours to define.

Q04How current is it?

One pass per region per year, more often on request. The delivery names the scene the pass came from.

Q05Does it confirm grid connection distance?

No. It does not look at substations or lines.

Q06What happens to small or irregular parcels?

They are screened the same way. Because size and shape tests can land near your thresholds, take a closer look at the boundary on those.

Q07How do we check it against our own data?

Hand us a set of parcels you have already walked or ruled out, and set our result beside yours for the pilot area. Disagreements are named by test.

Q08Who owns the delivered table?

Use and ownership of the files are written into the contract before work starts. The imagery archives the screen draws on keep their own licences.

Q09How is it priced?

Each region is scoped and quoted on its own, so you get a written scope to take through procurement.

Order line

Screen your first region.

Send us the region and your thresholds, or ask in the chat.

Start a pilot