Texture Is Important in Improving the Accuracy of Mapping Photovoltaic Power Plants: A Case Study of Ningxia Autonomous Region, China
Photovoltaic (PV) technology is becoming more popular due to climate change because it allows for replacing fossil-fuel power generation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, many countries have been attempting to generate electricity through PV power plants over the last decade. Monitor...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-09-01
|
| Series: | Remote Sensing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/19/3909 |
| _version_ | 1797515759838035968 |
|---|---|
| author | Xunhe Zhang Mojtaba Zeraatpisheh Md Mizanur Rahman Shujian Wang Ming Xu |
| author_facet | Xunhe Zhang Mojtaba Zeraatpisheh Md Mizanur Rahman Shujian Wang Ming Xu |
| author_sort | Xunhe Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Photovoltaic (PV) technology is becoming more popular due to climate change because it allows for replacing fossil-fuel power generation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, many countries have been attempting to generate electricity through PV power plants over the last decade. Monitoring PV power plants through satellite imagery, machine learning models, and cloud-based computing systems that may ensure rapid and precise locating with current status on a regional basis are crucial for environmental impact assessment and policy formulation. The effect of fusion of the spectral, textural with different neighbor sizes, and topographic features that may improve machine learning accuracy has not been evaluated yet in PV power plants’ mapping. This study mapped PV power plants using a random forest (RF) model on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. We combined textural features calculated from the Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM), reflectance, thermal spectral features, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), and Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) from Landsat-8 imagery and elevation, slope, and aspect from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) as input variables. We found that the textural features from GLCM prominent enhance the accuracy of the random forest model in identifying PV power plants where a neighbor size of 30 pixels showed the best model performance. The addition of texture features can improve model accuracy from a Kappa statistic of 0.904 ± 0.05 to 0.938 ± 0.04 and overall accuracy of 97.45 ± 0.14% to 98.32 ± 0.11%. The topographic and thermal features contribute a slight improvement in modeling. This study extends the knowledge of the effect of various variables in identifying PV power plants from remote sensing data. The texture characteristics of PV power plants at different spatial resolutions deserve attention. The findings of our study have great significance for collecting the geographic information of PV power plants and evaluating their environmental impact. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:52:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-20675f894cc14710886aa14bdc64f361 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:52:46Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-20675f894cc14710886aa14bdc64f3612023-11-22T16:42:39ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922021-09-011319390910.3390/rs13193909Texture Is Important in Improving the Accuracy of Mapping Photovoltaic Power Plants: A Case Study of Ningxia Autonomous Region, ChinaXunhe Zhang0Mojtaba Zeraatpisheh1Md Mizanur Rahman2Shujian Wang3Ming Xu4Henan Key Laboratory of Earth System Observation and Modeling, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, ChinaHenan Key Laboratory of Earth System Observation and Modeling, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, ChinaHenan Key Laboratory of Earth System Observation and Modeling, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, ChinaCollege of Geography and Environmental Science, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, ChinaHenan Key Laboratory of Earth System Observation and Modeling, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, ChinaPhotovoltaic (PV) technology is becoming more popular due to climate change because it allows for replacing fossil-fuel power generation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, many countries have been attempting to generate electricity through PV power plants over the last decade. Monitoring PV power plants through satellite imagery, machine learning models, and cloud-based computing systems that may ensure rapid and precise locating with current status on a regional basis are crucial for environmental impact assessment and policy formulation. The effect of fusion of the spectral, textural with different neighbor sizes, and topographic features that may improve machine learning accuracy has not been evaluated yet in PV power plants’ mapping. This study mapped PV power plants using a random forest (RF) model on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. We combined textural features calculated from the Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM), reflectance, thermal spectral features, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), and Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) from Landsat-8 imagery and elevation, slope, and aspect from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) as input variables. We found that the textural features from GLCM prominent enhance the accuracy of the random forest model in identifying PV power plants where a neighbor size of 30 pixels showed the best model performance. The addition of texture features can improve model accuracy from a Kappa statistic of 0.904 ± 0.05 to 0.938 ± 0.04 and overall accuracy of 97.45 ± 0.14% to 98.32 ± 0.11%. The topographic and thermal features contribute a slight improvement in modeling. This study extends the knowledge of the effect of various variables in identifying PV power plants from remote sensing data. The texture characteristics of PV power plants at different spatial resolutions deserve attention. The findings of our study have great significance for collecting the geographic information of PV power plants and evaluating their environmental impact.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/19/3909machine learningGoogle Earth Enginecloud computingremote sensingsolar power |
| spellingShingle | Xunhe Zhang Mojtaba Zeraatpisheh Md Mizanur Rahman Shujian Wang Ming Xu Texture Is Important in Improving the Accuracy of Mapping Photovoltaic Power Plants: A Case Study of Ningxia Autonomous Region, China Remote Sensing machine learning Google Earth Engine cloud computing remote sensing solar power |
| title | Texture Is Important in Improving the Accuracy of Mapping Photovoltaic Power Plants: A Case Study of Ningxia Autonomous Region, China |
| title_full | Texture Is Important in Improving the Accuracy of Mapping Photovoltaic Power Plants: A Case Study of Ningxia Autonomous Region, China |
| title_fullStr | Texture Is Important in Improving the Accuracy of Mapping Photovoltaic Power Plants: A Case Study of Ningxia Autonomous Region, China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Texture Is Important in Improving the Accuracy of Mapping Photovoltaic Power Plants: A Case Study of Ningxia Autonomous Region, China |
| title_short | Texture Is Important in Improving the Accuracy of Mapping Photovoltaic Power Plants: A Case Study of Ningxia Autonomous Region, China |
| title_sort | texture is important in improving the accuracy of mapping photovoltaic power plants a case study of ningxia autonomous region china |
| topic | machine learning Google Earth Engine cloud computing remote sensing solar power |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/19/3909 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xunhezhang textureisimportantinimprovingtheaccuracyofmappingphotovoltaicpowerplantsacasestudyofningxiaautonomousregionchina AT mojtabazeraatpisheh textureisimportantinimprovingtheaccuracyofmappingphotovoltaicpowerplantsacasestudyofningxiaautonomousregionchina AT mdmizanurrahman textureisimportantinimprovingtheaccuracyofmappingphotovoltaicpowerplantsacasestudyofningxiaautonomousregionchina AT shujianwang textureisimportantinimprovingtheaccuracyofmappingphotovoltaicpowerplantsacasestudyofningxiaautonomousregionchina AT mingxu textureisimportantinimprovingtheaccuracyofmappingphotovoltaicpowerplantsacasestudyofningxiaautonomousregionchina |