Distribution Lines (New!)

Learn how to find suitable land for your solar project with Local Hosting Capacity data.

Transect understands the importance of connecting your solar project to the grid at the right voltage level. With the new Distribution Lines layer, community solar developers can quickly identify sites that are close to the needed hosting capacity for their project. 

In this article, you will learn:

• What is Hosting Capacity?
• How to Access the Distribution Lines Explorer
• How to Request Distribution Line Data

What is Hosting Capacity?

Hosting Capacity indicates the availability of the local electricity grid to accept additional power generation from solar farms. It’s crucial for community solar developers to know the available capacity of nearby distribution lines (below 69kV) when selecting a site for a microgrid or small community solar project.

With Hosting Capacity Data in Transect, you can streamline your site selection process by:

• Easily identifying parcels with good grid access.
• Ensuring the project can connect to the grid without expensive upgrades.
• Focusing efforts on areas with sufficient capacity for the given project size.

Accessing the Distribution Lines Explorer

• Navigate to the Map from the top navigation bar.
• Click the Map Layer Manager and select the caret next to Distribution Lines.
• Select Add next to the Distribution Layers you’d like to add, then click Save.

Once saved, you’ll have the Distribution Lines Explorer where you can use the zoom to icon next to a layer to quickly navigate to that location on the map. The map will automatically populate the hosting capacity and indicate available capacity using the following color coding:

Requesting Distribution Line Data

• Within the Map, select Request Data in the Distribution Lines Explorer.
• A window will populate where you can search and select a utility company. Check the box next to the preferred utility company.
• Optionally, include any notes, feedback, or clarification about your request in the dialogue box.
  • Please note that we will be reviewing each request on a case-by-case basis and prioritizing based on user feedback and overall product vision.
• Select Request Data.