Click the Help button again or the "X" button on the top right to close this window at any time.

This web map will allow you to explore global power plants and U.S. renewable energy facilities using text search and map visualization tools.

Please Note: If you are using a mobile phone, it is best to view this page in landscape mode to fully view the map tool panel and for better overall viewing of the map and this Help window. Also, it is recommended that you use this map on a tablet or laptop for best performance and visualization.

Legend:

Data Layers:

• Global Power Plants Layer -- Point features from the Global Power Plant Database representing both thermal and renewable energy power plants around the world.

Popup attributes list:

• name: power plant name
• fid: feature id
• country: country abbreviation
• country_long: country full name
• capacity_mw: capacity in megawatts
• latitude: latitude coordinate
• longitude: longitude coordinate
• primary_fuel: energy source used in primary electricity generation
• commission_year: year of plant operation, if available


• U.S. Solar Facilities Layer -- Polygon features from the U.S. Large-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Database (USPVDB).

Popup attributes list:

• p_name: project name
• p_state: state abbreviation
• p_county: county name
• p_area: area of the facility array(s) in square meters
• p_img_date: acquisition date of the aerial image used to confirm the facility location in yyyymmdd format
• p_year: year in which facility operation began
• p_pwr_reg: common abbreviation of regional power authority name
• p_tech_pri: electric generation technology type (e.g., PV)
• p_axis: array axis type (e.g., single axis)
• p_cap_ac: facility capacity in megawatts AC (Alternating Current)
• p_cap_dc: facility capacity in megawatts DC (Direct Current)
• p_type: general categorization of facility from the EPA’s RE-Powering Matrix


• U.S. Wind Turbines Layer -- Point features from the U.S. Wind Turbine Database (USWTDB).

Popup attributes list:

• p_name: project name
• case_id: unique uswtdb id
• t_state: state abbreviation
• p_year: year project became operational
• p_tnum: number of turbines in project
• p_cap: project capacity in megawatts
• t_manu: turbine original equipment manufacturer
• t_model: turbine model
• t_cap: turbine capacity in kilowatts
• xlong: longitude coordinate
• ylat: latitude coordinate

Exploring the map:

• Pan and Zoom -- This map works like other online web maps. If you are on a mobile device or laptop, use touch to drag and pan and pinch to zoom in and out. If using a mouse, use your scroll wheel to zoom in and out, and pan around with click and drag. You can also use the Zoom Tool described below to zoom to a specified area.
• Identify features -- Use the Click or Hover Popups tools described below to open a popup with information on features of the three data layers. Note that popups will dynamically autopan the map as needed to display the popup fully on the map.
• Overview Map -- In the top-right corner of the map there is a button to expand and collapse an overview map. As you explore locations, the overview will update and show you your current location zoomed-out at a smaller scale. The overview's red rectangle shows the extent of the current map view.
• Zoom In/Out -- In the bottom-right corner of the map, there are standard map zoom control "+/-" buttons.

The Map Tools Panel:

On the top left of the map is the tools panel. Here are descriptions of each of the tools:

• Title bar button -- Click to expand or collapse the tool panel when exploring the map.
• Help button -- Click to open/close this Help window for reference when needed.
• Sample Searches -- Click to choose a text search to run on one of the three layers. When mulitiple features are selected the map will zoom to their extent, and the number of selected features will show in the Selection box. You can then pan and zoom and explore the selected features, and also press the 'Tour' button to zoom to each selected site individually.
• Search bar -- Enter search text to find power facilities of interest. Searches are global on all attributes for a specific layer. Choose the field you would like to search on from the Search Layer list. Press Enter or the Search button to run your search.
• Search button -- Runs your search with the text you've entered. You can press Enter on a keyboard if you prefer.
• Search Layer picklist -- Choose the layer you would like to search on -- Global Energy, USA Solar and USA Wind.
• Selection box -- If features are selected from your search, the Selection box will turn green and display the number of selected features. When using the Tour button, the Selection box will display which feature number from the total returned selection you are currently viewing.
• Tour -- When the Selection box displays more than 1 feature is returned from your selection, you can use the Tour button to zoom into each of the returned selected features individually. Tour moves forward through the selected records.
• Back -- The Back button is similar to the Tour button above, but moves backward through the selected records zooming into each.
• Zoom -- Click the Zoom button to zoom to the map extent of the currently selected feature(s).
• Home -- Click to zoom out to the full extent of the world map.
• Zoom to Previous (left arrow) -- Zooms to the previous map extent in the order which you have previously visited.
• Zoom to Next (right arrow) -- Zooms back to the next map extent in the order which you visited.
• Zoom Tool -- Click to activate the tool which will turn green. Use the tool to click and drag a rectangle on the map. The map will zoom to the extent of the box. Click the button again to deactivate and it will turn back to gray.
• Click Popups -- Use this tool to click and select a single features and open a popup with information. As Click allows you to lock the popup, the popup includes a link you can click to open a tab with the feature's location in Google Maps satellite view.
• Hover Popups -- Use this tool to hover your cursor over features and desplay popups as you move over features. This is good for quickly exploring many areas Note that popups will dynamically autopan the map as needed to display the popup.
• Layer visibility checkboxes -- Below the tools are checkboxes for each of the three data layers which allow you turn layer visibility on/off as needed when exploring.

Further Information

At the bottom of the tool panel are three information buttons.

• Map Info -- Learn more about this web map and find links to resources.
• USGS -- Go to the USGS web site.
• Feedback -- Send feedback on this map.

Thank you for visiting, and hope you enjoy exploring and learning more about these datasets.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to the following organizations for making this map possible:

• Thanks to the U.S. Geological Survey and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and partners for sharing open data on the U.S. Solar (USPVDB) and U.S. Wind (USWTDB) database projects.
• Thanks to the World Resources Institute and partners for sharing open data on the Global Power Plant Database.
• Thanks to OpenStreetMap and its contributors for sharing their important work and open basemap.
• Thanks to OpenLayers and its contributors for their free and open source map library on which this map was built.

Green Light Geospatial, 2023