Amsterdam is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands. With her population nearing 1 mln citizens, the Municipality of Amsterdam set its solar panels ambition to 1 million solar panels installed in 2022. The city has 134,153 buildings (> than 20 m²), with a total calculated potential of 3,25 million solar panels that could generate 1 TWh of electricity. Amsterdam as a whole consumes about 3.8 TWh of electricity per year – this includes households, datacenters, and offices alike. Therefore, maximizing the Amsterdam rooftops effectively for energy production can contribute 25% of the city’s total electricity need. Looking at 2030, the city aims to have 550 MW installed, equivalent to the usage of half of the solar panel potential of all roofs in the city.

With these ambitions set, what is the ‚true‘ implementation potential for solar panels in Amsterdam – in terms of space on the city’s rooftops? Which neighbourhoods, streets, or even houses have the highest yield? And how can this be calculated best? One can imagine: not all roofs meet the solar panel installation requirements. To illustrate, from the total available roof surface in Amsterdam, a large part is cut off simply because there are roof domes or chimneys in the way or roof terraces have been placed on flat roofs.

SIMPLY POSITIVE will aid Amsterdam by integrating knowledge domains in order to support the city and its stakeholders with supporting information for investment decisions and prioritization strategies.