Looking for Coviability Between Ecological Systems and Renewable Energy Production Sites

Abstract

Several initiatives are underway at a global scale to make a transition from the current electrical energy system (which uses mainly non-renewable resources) towards renewable energy systems (RES). However, the energy transition, initiated many years ago, is hindered by several obstacles due principally to ecological issues that emanate from the difficulty in merging the systems to RES. Certain obstacles are related to the implementation of RES infrastructures in landscapes that are ecologically sensitive; and other obstacles concern the projects whose excessive exploitation of RES (large hydroelectric dams, gigantic solar farms, and so on) result in the weakening, or even in the degradation, of a natural capital (for instance landscapes, farmland, and forests). This raises the question of mutual viability (called coviability) of renewable energy systems and of ecological sites. We suggest a modification of the classical approach applied to RES projects by preferring an ecological angle and the conservation of natural contexts. We encourage resorting to geographical information systems in order to assist building a mutual analysis of the preservation of natural environments and of productive sites of RES. Through three examples representing three types of RES developed in French Guiana, we identify some technologies and methods whose characteristics may ensure the coviability of these types of RES and of ecological sites.