Land Resources for Wind Energy Development Requires Regionalized Characterizations

Dai, Tao; Jose Valanarasu, Jeya Maria; Zhao, Yifan; Zheng, Shuwen; Sun, Yinong; Patel, Vishal M.; Jordaan, Sarah M.

doi:10.1021/acs.est.3c07908

Land Resources for Wind Energy Development Requires Regionalized Characterizations

Journal Article · Mon Mar 04 00:00:00 EST 2024 · Environmental Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c07908· OSTI ID:2472915

^[1]; Jose Valanarasu, Jeya Maria ^[2]; Zhao, Yifan ^[2]; Zheng, Shuwen ^[2]; Sun, Yinong ^[2]; Patel, Vishal M. ^[2]; ^[3]

Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Emeryville, CA (United States). Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI)
Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada)

Estimates of the land area occupied by wind energy differ by orders of magnitude due to data scarcity and inconsistent methodology. Here, we developed a method that combines machine learning-based imagery analysis and geographic information systems and examined the land area of 318 wind farms (15,871 turbines) in the U.S. portion of the Western Interconnection. We found that prior land use and human modification in the project area are critical for land-use efficiency and land transformation of wind projects. Projects developed in areas with little human modification have a land-use efficiency of 63.8 ± 8.9 W/m² (mean ±95% confidence interval) and a land transformation of 0.24 ± 0.07 m²/MWh, while values for projects in areas with high human modification are 447 ± 49.4 W/m² and 0.05 ± 0.01 m²/MWh, respectively. We show that land resources for wind can be quantified consistently with our replicable method, a method that obviates >99% of the workload using machine learning. To quantify the peripheral impact of a turbine, buffered geometry can be used as a proxy for measuring land resources and metrics when a large enough impact radius is assumed (e.g., >4 times the rotor diameter). Our analysis provides a necessary first step toward regionalized impact assessment and improved comparisons of energy alternatives.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Biological Systems Science (BSS)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 2472915

Journal Information:: Environmental Science and Technology, Journal Name: Environmental Science and Technology Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 58; ISSN 0013-936X

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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