Matt Goes Green

SEATTLE (October 13, 2008) – 3TIER, one of the world’s largest independent
providers of assessment and forecasting of renewable energy, today released the
first comprehensive, contiguous and high-resolution solar map for the entire
Western Hemisphere.

“To produce this map, 3TIER
developed a dataset that is approximately three times the resolution of
existing industry solar data standards for the United States,” said Kenneth
Westrick, 3TIER CEO and founder of the Seattle-based company.

“This is the first and only database
of the solar resource that covers all of North, Central and South America,”
Westrick said. “Not many organizations have the expertise and super-computing
resources to synthesize such massive amounts of historical satellite data or a
tool like 3TIER’s FirstLook to present the data in a simple and elegant way.”

Similar to 3TIER’s high-resolution wind maps, a clickable
solar map is available online for free through the FirstLook Prospecting™ tool
at http://firstlook.3tiergroup.com/solar.  This map will allow policy-makers, developers and financiers to quickly
identify potential sites and begin assessing their renewable energy potential.

“Development of this solar map is
another important milestone in 3TIER’s
‘REmapping the World ™’ initiative, which is intended to accelerate the
adoption and integration of renewable energies worldwide,” Westrick said. “If
we want developing nations to ‘leapfrog’ over fossil fuels, they need
information about what renewable energy resources or combination of resources
exist. REmapping the World is a sophisticated mapping
technology initiative to show where renewable resources are, and change
the way we look at the world’s energy production options.

 “Our
maps are providing the critical information that has been missing to make
renewable energy a viable choice – and resolve the issues around the
availability, accessibility and useability of global renewable resource
information. The maps provide enough resolution so countries and
organizations can begin to look at the potential wind and solar resources at a
regional level.”

The solar map is based on 11 years of half-hourly
high resolution (roughly 1 km) visible satellite imagery that has been
processed to create 11 years of hourly values of Global Horizontal
Irradiation (GHI), Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI) and Diffuse Irradiation (DI)
at a horizontal resolution of roughly 3 kilometers.

Based on this solar dataset, 3TIER
customers can purchase basic or comprehensive reports that contain more
detailed solar site analyses. 

Available products include:

• FullView
  Site Analysis Report – basic information delivered within 2 weeks;
• FullView
  Comprehensive Report – an in depth custom report; and
• GIS
  layers – annual average and monthly data layers for select regions.

“With the solar market rapidly expanding in North, Central
and South American markets, developers are looking for the quickest way to
prospect solar sites and choose the best locations for optimum energy
production,” Westrick said.  “Our reports make it faster and more
cost-effective for developers to evaluate potential solar projects and make
capital investments in solar energy generation.”

Over the coming months, 3TIER plans to continue to
map solar resources, country by country, based upon a priority order that takes
into account such issues as solar development policies, availability of the sun
and economic development status.

To learn more about
REmapping the World visit: www.remappingtheworld.com.

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ABOUT 3TIER

Founded in 1999, Seattle-based
3TIER is one of the largest independent providers of wind, solar and hydro
energy assessment and power forecasting worldwide. People around the world turn
to 3TIER when they want the best scientific information to make decisions about
renewable energy projects — from the prospecting stage to operations. For more
information, visit 3tiergroup.com.