The Wallonia Dynamic Map's objective is to provide live and historical information on the production of renewable energy sources (solar, onshore and offshore wind) for Wallonia. As a unique feature, this map considers installations of all sizes: from small rooftop PV to large industrial solar and wind farms.

Renewable energy generation is shown:

·      Per hour for the current day (either actual production or forecasted, depending on the time of the day when the maps are consulted)

·      Forecast (per hour) for the next day

·      Historical data (per hour) for the last 30 days

·      Historical data (per month) since 2015.

If either the current day, the day after or a date in the last 30 days is chosen, the bar just below the map will show evolution for each hour of the selected day. The live information then changes depending on the hour and the indicators on the bottom part of the page refer to the selected day.

If a specific year (from 2015) is chosen, the bar just below the map changes to display months. The live information then changes depending on the month of the year and the indicators on the bottom part of the page refer to the chosen year.

 SPW trusted 3E to develop the Wallonia Dynamic Map. To determine the historical, real-time and predicted electricity production, 3E combines different data sources:

·      aggregated historical and near real-time data* with a frequency of 15 minutes for the electricity production from solar panels, the electricity production from onshore and offshore wind turbines and the total grid load: source Elia (Belgian transmission system operator) ;

·      historical, near real-time data and predictions for solar radiation and wind speeds, and the electricity production derived from this by solar panels and wind turbines in Wallonia: source 3E Data Services ;

·      resource forecasts (wind, solar irradiance, and temperature): source European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMFW) and Global Forecast System (GFS) ;

·      the installed capacity of solar panels and onshore wind (on land) turbines in each Walloon municipality: source SPW ;

·      the installed capacity of offshore wind turbines in the North Sea: source Elia ;

·      number of inhabitants per municipality: source SPW ;

·      electricity consumption of an average Flemish family = 3500 kWh / year or 9.6 kWh / day (CWaPE) ;

·      CO2 factor of the conventional electricity sector, a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine plant on natural gas = 502.2 kg CO2/MWh (Awac).

The figures for real-time electricity production by solar panels and onshore wind turbines are based on data from Elia (the transmission system operator). As Elia does not monitor all installations, its estimates are an underestimate of actual production.  To correct for this, Elia's solar and wind production is first adjusted to the full installed capacity per technology, using the capacities supplied by SPW Energie. This gives us the corrected amount of energy produced in real time throughout Wallonia. However, this does not yet give us the quantity produced by each municipality, since Elia provides aggregated data for the whole of Belgium. The breakdown of data by municipality is based on resource forecasts, the installed capacity of solar panels and onshore wind turbines by municipality, and 3E's own simulation models.

Historical photovoltaic electricity production data, which Elia offers at provincial level, can be used to calculate production at municipal level. To do this, we use historical data on solar radiation per municipality from 3E's Data Services.

Historical wind speed data are obtained from reanalysis data sets (ERA5). Historical energy production by onshore wind turbines, at the local authority level, is estimated on the basis of these wind speeds, the installed capacity per local authority and the power curve of an average wind turbine (this curve shows the relationship between wind speed and energy produced).

The real-time electricity production data for the offshore wind turbines comes from Elia. Since Elia has full control over the electricity generated by the offshore wind turbines, these data do not need to be readjusted.

In addition, real-time electricity load data (i.e. electricity consumption) is obtained from Elia and updated every hour. However, these load data relate to Belgium as a whole. To obtain an estimate of the load for Wallonia, a scaling factor of 0.27 is applied as suggested by Elia.

Finally, a check is made to detect any record of renewable energy production. Each month, the monthly energy production by area is also recorded.

* Near real-time means that the data shows the current situation or a few minutes less. These data are renewed every 15 minutes.

The Dynamic Map of Wallonia is a tool that shows in a structured and transparent way the contribution of photovoltaic and wind energy to the energy system of today and tomorrow. It is based on a theoretical calculation model that seeks to represent complex reality as faithfully as possible. This model, which uses available data, is built with simplifying assumptions and the corresponding margins of error. The assumptions used in the calculations and the sources of imprecision conceded are as follows:

·      Elia's data for installed power is considered reliable and representative. 3E estimates the total Walloon energy demand as 33% of the total grid load of the Belgian electricity grid;

·      The installed powers in the calculation are always lower than in reality. This has two reasons:

o   SPW-Energie updates the data on installed solar and wind capacity every six months.

o   While it is mandatory, not every solar panel installation is reported to the grid operator. These unlisted installations give an incomplete overview of the installed capacity of solar panels and, hence, an incorrect implementation of the renewable energy goals for Wallonia;

·      Not all renewable installations in Wallonia are monitored by Elia. Therefore, Elia's electricity production from renewable sources is first scaled to the installed capacity reported by SPW-Energie. This is done based on a weighted factor that depends on the installed capacity and weather forecast for each municipality.

·      The yields of solar panels, onshore (on land) and offshore wind turbines are based on standard installations in Wallonia. Naturally, the performance of individual installations may deviate from this.

·      Electricity consumption of an average household in Wallonia = 3500 kWh/year or 9.6 kWh/day (CWaPE).

·      CO2 factor of the conventional electricity sector, a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine plant on natural gas = 502.2 kg CO2/MWh (Awac).

On the first part of the page, live information is displayed on:

·      A map of Wallonia, where the production is shown per municipality in a choropleth map. The darkness of the municipality every hour/month represents the amount of renewable energy produced. When offshore wind is selected, it is represented by the icon on the left of the map. The colour of the map varies depending on the renewable energy source selected.

·      A bullet chart, that shows the electricity demand of Wallonia for each hour/month and the production from the selected energy sources for the same time as two superposed bars. The percentage of the demand that is covered by the selected renewable energy source is also displayed.

·      A time plot showing the production from the selected renewable energy sources over the day/year. When the ‘daily' mode is selected and depending on the time when the website is accessed, a part of the graph may show actual production (in a darker shade) and the other part forecasted production for the rest of the day (in a lighter shade). The legend of this graph appears when the cursor is moved to the button ‘Legend' that is placed just below the time plot.

·      The meter, graph, and map show how much power is already supplied/expected by the end of the selected hour. If the clock is at 3 PM, you will see the production between 2 PM and 3 PM.

On the bottom part of the webpage, three boxes appear with relevant indicators that show (depending on the selected energy sources):

·       ‘Renewable energy production' on the selected day/month, including:

o   Total production in the running day/month (either actual or forecasted production). If only solar energy is selected, the amount that corresponds to residential and industrial production is differentiated.

o   Percentage of the total demand over the day/month that is covered with the above production

o   Peak production on the day/month relative to the demand.

o   Number of electric vehicles that could be charged with the total production.

o   Avoided CO2 emissions thanks to the production of renewable energy.

·       ‘Renewable energy per province' for the selected date/month. For all the provinces in Wallonia, the installed capacity, resulting renewable energy production and the equivalent number of families whose consumption could be covered with this production are displayed on a table.

·       ‘Records of renewable energy production related to the demand since 2015'. Two different records are displayed:

o   The peak in renewable energy production per day, i.e. the day with maximum renewable energy generation (with respect to the demand) since 2015.

o   The hourly peak in renewable energy production, i.e. the hour with the maximum production (with respect to the demand) since 2015.

To avoid confusion, the Wallonia Dynamic Map displays 100% of the electricity produced from offshore wind turbines. There is no correction factor applied in this case (as is the case for the electricity consumption in Wallonia, which is estimated at 33% of the total electricity consumption in Belgium.

By moving the cursor over the map, information for each municipality appears on a tooltip:

·      Production from renewable energy (depending on the selected source)

o   Per hour: for the specific displayed hour

o   Foreseen for the entire day

·      Number of families covered, i.e. the equivalent number of families in the municipality whose daily consumption could be covered with the daily production outlined above.

·      Installed capacity in the municipality

·      Avoided CO2 emissions thanks to renewable energy production

There are three different menus for the user to select from, all of which appear at the top of the page. These are:

·      The energy sources: solar, onshore wind (on land) and offshore wind (the North Sea). Each source can be either individually selected (by clicking on the corresponding icon) or several of them combined. Whenever offshore wind is chosen, its production is represented by an icon on the left of the map labelled as ‘offshore wind at the North Sea'.

·      The day or year. At the middle of the top page, three options appear to be clicked on: yesterday, today and tomorrow. Click on one of the options and the live information (map, bullet chart and time plot) and indicators change accordingly depending on the selected date. In addition, if clicking on ‘day', a calendar appears that allows choosing any date from the last 30 days. If clicking on ‘year', a calendar appears that allows choosing any year since 2015.

If either the current day, the day after or a date in the last 30 days is chosen, the bar just below the map will show the evolution for each hour of the day. The live information then changes depending on the hour and the indicators on the bottom part of the page refer to the day.

If a specific year (from 2015) is chosen, the bar just below the map changes to display months. The live information then changes depending on the month of the year and the indicators on the bottom part of the page refer to the chosen year.

·      The production mode that will be displayed on the map, bullet and time plot depending on the chosen option. These can be:

o   Total production

o   Production per km2 which is a measure often used for wind energy

o   Production per inhabitant

Yes. Both the Dynamic Map and the Energy Balance show Wallonia's annual electricity production from solar panels and wind turbines. Nevertheless, these two values may differ. This is due to the difference between the data sources and methodology used in each case.

To obtain the historical electricity production for the Dynamic Map of Wallonia, 3E adds up the real-time productions. These real-time productions have been calculated from Elia's near real-time data*, reduced to full installed capacity by technology type. Installed capacity is obtained by combining data supplied by SPW-Energie and resource data (wind, solar irradiation, temperature). As this is a theoretical calculation model with corresponding assumptions and margins of error, the dynamic map is not totally accurate.

The Energy Balance is based on other data sources, obtained according to a different methodology with its own assumptions and corresponding margins of error, which may lead to different results. These data sources, collected or transmitted to SPW, include:

·        The service for granting green certificates, managed by SPW Energie, for gross and net renewable electricity production;

·        The Electricity and Gas Distribution and Transmission System Operators for detailed electricity production and self-generation data by energy source;

·        The REIWA survey of the most polluting companies in Wallonia to compare and validate electricity production data (Référentiel environnemental de gestion intégrée des entreprises).

·        Energy producers and self-generating companies, such as ENGIE Electrabel for historical installations that are no longer eligible for green certificate reporting.

·        Federations, regional facilitators, SPW's incentives department;

·        IRM.

That said, the Dynamic Map and Energy Balances are intended to be complementary tools, the map being better suited if you are looking for near-real-time production data and the balances if you are looking for historical production data.

*Near real-time means that the data shows the current situation or a few minutes less. These data are renewed every 15 minutes.

Yes. You can pause the moving images with the buttons in the menu bar on the below, right-side of the map. You can go back and forward pressing the arrows in steps of one hour. At each step, the meter, graph and map show how much power is already supplied/expected by the end of the selected hour. If the clock is at 3 PM, you will see the production between 2 PM and 3 PM.