Comparison of Environmental Impact Assessment Methods in the Assembly and Operation of Photovoltaic Power Plants: A Systematic Review in the Castilla—La Mancha Region

Marichell Zarzavilla,Francisco López Serrano,Andrea Quintero,Miguel Chen Austin,Nathalia Tejedor-Flores,Manuela Andrés Abellán

doi:10.3390/en15051926

Abstract

Solar energy is in high demand due to its environmental benefits and economic potential; however, concerns remain about the total impact it holds. In 2020, for Spain, Castilla-La Mancha was the second autonomous community with the highest photovoltaic energy production. Thus, a systematic review on 15 large-scale PV solar energy projects was carried out to assess the industry impacts, through environmental impact assessment (EIA), within the Autonomous Community of Castilla—La Mancha. An estimation of these impacts from a pre-operational approach is presented, based on primary energy needs and emissions discarded during its life cycle due to the manufacture, operation, and recycling of the photovoltaic modules. Based on both the life cycle assessment (LCA) and EIA, the approaches were compared with the results obtained. The obtained results suggest that determining the actual impacts of power plants in this region could provide justified information for the public administration and technicians in the measures for the installation and operation of PV plants and the future benefits of renewable solar technologies. Furthermore, the results indicate the possibility to recognize the relationship between the size of the plant and a high generation capacity, with a shorter time to pay for emissions from the manufacture and recycling of panels, suggesting that it is around 1.66–2.08 years for the Castilla-La Mancha region.

Highlights

Due to the potential threat posed by global climate change, predominantly anthropogenic, there is increasing pressure on traditional energy sources for the rising global energy demand
For the development of this paper, we aim to define an objective criterion for screening the projects that best represent the final effects of PV power plants and discuss the results abstracted from this information to reduce its most predominant impacts
These results show that only three of the 15 plants are close to the 2-year margin, and the rest have relatively low values for the time it takes to balance their emissions from manufacturing and recycling

Summary

Introduction

Due to the potential threat posed by global climate change, predominantly anthropogenic, there is increasing pressure on traditional energy sources for the rising global energy demand. This has prompted the search for renewable energy (RE) generation sources as a path to combat these concerns. Renewable energies continue to be part of the roadmaps developed by nations due to their capacity to diversify the energy matrix and its progressive decarbonization With their arrival, it is possible to improve the security of supply, thanks to the reduction in fossil fuel imports and dependence on this type of energy

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Conclusion