Large-scale Wind Energy Development Research Articles

Evaluating emission reduction potential at the “30-60 Dual Carbon targets” over China from a view of wind power under climate change

Large-scale wind energy development is one of the main paths to achieving China's carbon peak and neutrality goals. How will the wind power and corresponding carbon abatement potential (CAP) in China change when China reaches the timing of its reduction carbon targets? This issue has not been well addressed. In this paper, a weighted multi-model ensemble with 14 global climate models from Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) is used to evaluate the spatio-temporal characteristics of wind speed over China during the baseline period (2004–2014). Then, we further analyze the changes in wind power and corresponding CAP due to the climate change over China in the two-level years (2030 and 2060) under the SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios. The results show that the wind capacity factor over China will have a trend of decreasing in most regions of China and increasing in the southeast in 2060. Overall, climate change will have a slight impact on the CAP of wind power in 2030, with an increase in some southern provinces. However, the CAP of wind power will decrease significantly in most regions of China in 2060 under the SSP2-4.5 scenario, especially in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Liaoning, by more than 5 %. Under the SSP5-8.5 scenario, the CAP will decrease significantly in the southwest and northwest regions, such as Sichuan and Qinghai, by 9.86 % and 8.19 % respectively. Central and South provinces such as Hunan and Hubei will increase by about 5 %. In terms of seasonal changes, the CAP of wind power will decrease significantly in summer under the SSP2-4.5 scenario (about −5.24 %) and SSP5-8.5 scenario (about −6.50 %).These findings can help policymakers make decisions as they establish plans for wind power expansion while taking the effects of climate change into account as they work toward China's carbon neutrality goal.

Land grabbing or value grabbing? Land rent and wind energy in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca is the first region in Mexico with a large-scale wind energy development. The region holds 60% of the country’s installed capacity, but the new infrastructure has faced opposition from sectors of the local population concerned about wind farms’ social and environmental impacts. The opposition and ensuing conflicts have been widely studied; some of these studies have framed wind energy as part of the recent cycle of land grabbing. Nevertheless, this literature has overlooked landholders’ acceptance of wind energy. This paper aims to address this gap and argues that the main driver of the land grabbing process is land rent. The paper draws on recent insights from political ecology that highlight that the commodification of nature is predicated on rent. The paper uses the notion of value grabbing to look at the social struggles over property rights in the Isthmus and the conflicts for the increase and distribution of rents from wind energy.

Justice, social exclusion and indigenous opposition: A case study of wind energy development on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico

The southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec is one of the windiest places on Earth and the scene of a large-scale wind energy development plan conceived by the Mexican government in conjunction with multinational companies. We analyze the national wind energy development policy, and the negotiation processes, alliances and popular local indigenous resistance created by what is known as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Wind Energy Megaproject. We observe how the Mexican government, in its eagerness to grant control of regional wind energy resources to private sector companies, generated social schisms and conflicts in regional indigenous communities. These arose largely due to the absence of land use planning rules and conflict resolution mechanisms of the property rights issued for communal and social control, heritage of the Mexican revolution in the 1910’s. We describe recent government initiatives implemented in response to this dynamic and aimed at reviving construction of a wind farm previously blocked by popular indigenous protests. This unsuccessful attempt exposed a lack of institutional interest in guaranteeing local involvement in project planning and in correcting existing top-down political and operation practices. Wind energy development in Mexico resembles an extractive model, with no consideration of local cultures or organizations, or the potential for joint ventures with local stakeholders that would treat rural indigenous populations as assets in the national energy transition, begun in 2007 for wind private projects in the region.

Investigating the role of local pumped-hydro energy storage in interconnected island grids with high wind power generation

On the basis of comparative analysis of alternative “development scenarios” for future electricity generation, this work investigates the role of local energy storage and large-scale Wind Energy (WE) production in the Interconnection (IC) of an island (i.e. Lesbos) with the Mainland (ML) grid. The economic viability of two main scenarios (i.e. Large-scale WE development and island’s IC with the ML grid, with or without local energy storage) is evaluated by calculating their Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), while the influence of specific energy and financial parameters on the cost-effectiveness of each of the examined solutions is also investigated through a sensitivity analysis. According to the results obtained, the “costly” project of island’s IC can turn into an economically attractive solution if it is combined with local large-scale WE development. Moreover, the addition of a Pumped-hydro Storage (PHS) unit is found to bring reductions in the WE rejected amounts, while part of energy imports from ML can be replaced by Hydro Turbine(s) (HTs) operation. Although islands’ IC facilitates the massive deployment of RES-based applications, full exploitation of the vast Renewable Energy Sources (RES) potential may eventually include −under certain conditions− a combination of the two technologies, i.e. IC and energy storage.

How wind became a four-letter word: Lessons for community engagement from a wind energy conflict in King Island, Australia

Wind is recognised as a key source of renewable energy. Despite broad public support for the sector, wind energy proposals have routinely triggered social conflict and localised opposition. To promote social acceptance and avoid conflict, the wind energy sector undertakes community engagement. This paper interrogates the community engagement undertaken in King Island (Tasmania, Australia) for a large scale wind energy development proposal which did not proceed to implementation due to external economic factors. Despite the proponent's adoption of what was described as a ‘best practice’ community engagement strategy, the proposal caused significant social conflict for the community. In-depth interviews (n=30) were conducted with members of the King Island community and were qualitatively analysed through the social identity lens. Five key drivers of the local conflict were identified: problematic pre-feasibility engagement; the lack of a third-party facilitator of the community consultative committee; holding a vote which polarised the community; the lack of a clear place in the engagement process for local opposition, and; the significance of local context. These findings are instructive for improving community engagement practice for wind energy and other energy generation and land use change sectors.

Reconciling endangered species conservation with wind farm development: Cinereous vultures (Aegypius monachus) in south-eastern Europe

Harnessing wind energy is seen as an environmentally friendly strategy to combat climate change. However, adverse environmental impacts have come to light for species that are prone to collision with wind turbine blades, such as vultures, leading to a conflict between wind energy industry and conservation. Our study area epitomized such a conflict, containing the only population of cinereous vultures in south-eastern Europe while also being the location for substantial existing and planned wind farms. We used long-term remote telemetry data to produce a species-specific sensitivity map for guiding wind energy development and to estimate vulture collision mortality due to currently operating wind farms. Most operational wind farms were in the population core area and in the highest priority areas for vulture conservation. Collision mortality due to the thirteen operating wind farms was estimated by combining global position system (GPS) telemetry data on vulture space use with a collision risk model (CRM). Estimated mortality varied greatly according to the CRM's ‘avoidance rate’. Under the most likely avoidance rates annual predicted collision mortality was 5–11% of the population, creating risk of population decline. Collision mortality was expected almost exclusively in the population core area, rendering further future development plans there severely problematic for vulture population persistence. Our sensitivity map, as a conservation prioritization system, offered a spatially explicit solution to the conflict between wind energy development and vulture conservation. Combining spatial use models derived from telemetry data with collision mortality models offers a novel conservation tool for evaluating large scale wind energy development proposals.

Assessment of wind power generation along the coast of Ghana

This study examined the wind energy potential and the economic viability of using wind turbine for electricity generation in selected locations along the coastal region of Ghana. The two-parameter Weibull probability density function was employed to analyze the wind speed data obtained from the Ghana Energy Commission. The energy output and unit cost of electricity generated from medium size commercial wind turbine models with rated powers ranging from 50kW to 250kW were determined. It was found that the wind resource along the coastal region of Ghana can be classified into Class 2 or less wind resource which indicate that this resource in this area is marginally suitable for large scale wind energy development or suitable for small scale applications and be useful as part of hybrid energy system. It was further observed that wind turbine with designed cut-in wind speed of less than 3m/s and moderate rated wind speed between 9 and 11m/s is more suitable for wind energy development along the coastal region of Ghana. Based on the selected wind turbine and assumptions used in this study, it was estimated that the unit cost of electricity varied between 0.0695 GH¢/kWh and 0.2817 GH¢/kWh.

Wind power, landscape and strategic, spatial planning—The construction of ‘acceptable locations’ in Wales

A number of analysts have argued that decisions about renewable energy technologies and targets need to be reconciled with the social and environmental contexts in which those technologies are adopted. However, an unresolved issue is how the contextually-embedded qualities of landscape might be represented at the national level, alongside other energy policy considerations like resource availability, economic efficiency and technical feasibility. To explore the dilemmas of this enterprise, this work examines the efforts of the Welsh Assembly Government to develop a spatial planning framework for wind energy. The work examines how particular landscapes became identified as ‘acceptable locations’ for wind farms, and the consequences. Four sets of findings are discussed: the selectivity with which landscape qualities enter strategic planning rationalities, favouring qualities that are formally demarcated and measurable ‘at a distance’; the tendency of the identified strategic search areas for wind to reinforce the degraded status of afforested upland areas; the extent to which the planning framework has rendered certain environmental qualities malleable; and the way that drawing boundaries around acceptable locations for large-scale wind energy development may restrict the scope for future reflexivity in energy policy.

Impacts of wind power on PJM market development

Recently, there has been a substantial growth in wind energy in the USA. An increasing number of states are experiencing market design, planning and investment in wind energy with this growth. Currently, wind installations exist in more than half of the states. This paper explores the market factors that have been driven and affected by large-scale wind energy development in the USA, particularly in PJM control area that have achieved in recent years and will have a substantial amount of wind energy investment in the next 10-15 years. In this paper, we also identify the key issues for wind power planning and interconnection.