The 3D Elevation Program and Energy for the Nation

U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2019–3051, February 2020. By Cindy A. Thatcher, Vicki Lukas and Jason M. Stoker.

Elevation data and energy

Lidar (light detection and ranging) gives high-resolution elevation data that the energy industry uses to site, design, permit, build and monitor infrastructure safely — for example by analysing terrain and finding geologic hazards such as landslides and faults. More and more, engineering firms and regulators use lidar and other remote sensing to collect accurate, complete data while keeping field staff out of harm's way.

A lidar point cloud captures power lines and other infrastructure. Image: Jason Stoker, USGS.

The USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is collecting lidar nationwide — radar (IfSAR) in Alaska. A national assessment (Dewberry, 2012) named renewable energy, mining and oil and gas among the business uses that need 3D elevation data.

Conservative annual benefits of 3DEP data to the energy sector (Dewberry, 2012):

Permitting. Elevation data help assess sites for pipelines, refineries and other facilities against natural hazards. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the independent agency that regulates interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil, uses it for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews. 3DEP lidar gives FERC and applicants accurate, consistent data for hazard analysis, speeding up applications and reviews and avoiding the far higher cost of field crews surveying proposed sites and pipeline routes.

How the energy sector uses it

• Spill impact analysis. Lidar elevation models predict how far a pipeline leak would spread — largely a matter of terrain — and the risk to sensitive ecosystems or towns.
• Hydroelectric dams. Detailed elevation data map flood risk from a dam failure, and lidar and IfSAR help analyse dam breaks and the effects of floods, landslides and earthquakes on dams.
• Siting nuclear reactors. Seismic hazard is central. Lidar sharpens the search for surface faults, likely liquefaction and landslide areas, karst, drainage, and coastal and other flood zones, helping the Nuclear Regulatory Commission review sites efficiently.
• Solar potential. The solar industry uses 3D data to calculate the sunlight reaching a roof, the shade cast by nearby buildings, trees and chimneys, and the roof's slope and aspect — remotely, instead of through costly and potentially dangerous site visits.
• Power plants and lines. Utilities need accurate topography to design and build generating plants and transmission lines. The Tennessee Valley Authority uses lidar to model flood risk at plants and major substations, and to inspect transmission line rights-of-way for clearance from trees and encroachments.

A 1-metre lidar elevation model showing part of the Meers fault in southwestern Oklahoma, from a Federal Emergency Management Agency lidar project in the Cache Creek basin.

About 3DEP

The USGS runs 3DEP for federal, state, local and other partners and users. Its goal: complete lidar coverage (IfSAR in Alaska) in 8 years, the first-ever national baseline of consistent, high-resolution elevation data.

Benefits

• Economies of scale from buying data for larger areas.
• Predictable, flexible federal investment that cuts costs and helps planning.
• Consistent national coverage ready for work that crosses project, jurisdiction and watershed boundaries.
• Simpler buying: contracts, project management, quality assurance and published specifications.
• New benefits of $690 million a year, conservatively, with the potential for $13 billion a year more across the economy (Dewberry, 2012).

Data. 3DEP lidar has at least two points per square metre and vertical error of no more than 10 centimetres (root mean square). Products include the full point cloud and a 1-metre bare-earth elevation model. The data go into The National Map, free and without restrictions: https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/

Joining in. Federal, state, tribal, territorial and local governments and private partners can take part, and can pay for higher-quality data. Partners may fund USGS-managed projects or receive cooperative funds to run their own, through an annual Broad Agency Announcement; organisations may also contribute existing data that meet 3DEP standards. See https://usgs.gov/3DEP/collaborate

Sources

• Thatcher, C.A., Lukas, V., and Stoker, J.M., 2020, The 3D Elevation Program and energy for the Nation: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2019–3051. https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20193051 · https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/fs20193051
• Dewberry, 2012, Final report of the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment (revised March 29, 2012).
• The benefits table, the data specifications and the figures come from the fact sheet's PDF; the web version's table is garbled. Its rooftop solar model is a company's image used with permission and is not reproduced here.
• Rewritten in hubnx's own words.