Geography of solar energy in Andalusia (South of Spain): New data and possibilities for analysis

This paper analyses the territorial distribution and the surface area occupied by the solar power plants installed in Andalusia as of 2019. The main results include the difference in land con-sumption patterns by type of power plant, detecting, among other aspects, a higher average land consumption of solar thermal power plants compared to the rest of the power plants. Likewise, the municipalities in which the presence of these facilities occupies 15% of the land have been identified. The spatial information generated, which corresponds to the digitisation of solar pow-er plant polygons in Andalusia, completed with alphanumeric information on the type of plant and installed power, is made available for use by researchers and academics, as well as by the au-thorities responsible for land planning and management. Access and reuse of the information is guaranteed by means of a web map with Web Feature Services (WFS), which will allow not only geovisualisation, but also data downloading. The availability of this information makes it possi-ble to go beyond the analyses carried out so far, which were based on a specific layer from the Andalusian Energy Agency distributed by the Andalusian Institute of Statistics and Cartography. Moreover, the web map will allow users who are not experts in Geographic Information Systems to assess the intensity of the installation and argue the social concern derived from the installa-tion of this type of power plants on the Andalusian territory.