Publication | Peer reviewed papers | Potentiale, Bioenergiesysteme, Logistik
Open data in the solar thermal community: Status, barriers, and opportunities
Published 2025
Citation: Emberger L, Nair G, Lichtenegger K, Moser M, Summ T, Natiesta T, Fan J, Wang P, Unterberger V, Ohnewein P. Open data in the solar thermal community: Status, barriers, and opportunities. Solar Energy Advances. 2025. 5:100114.
Abstract
Open data in the renewable energy sector could contribute to a greener future and reduce carbon emissions. This study investigates existing open datasets in the solar thermal domain, challenges in publishing and using open data and its potential impact. The results support the common belief that open data is useful, offering considerable benefits for data re-users and the solar thermal community. While substantial open data in the solar thermal domain already exists, some datasets like plant statistics and cost data are hard to utilize due to licensing, accessibility, and quality issues. The study shows that data owners benefit less from publishing data compared to data re-users and service providers. While data sharing seems appealing to data owners, several barriers discourage data sharing. Suggestions to promote the use and publications of open data in solar thermal domain are discussed.