Land Use Requirements of Modern Wind Power Plants in the United States

Technical Report · Sat Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/964608· OSTI ID:964608

Denholm, P; Hand, M; Jackson, M; Ong, S

This report provides data and analysis of the land use associated with modern, large wind power plants (defined as greater than 20 megawatts (MW) and constructed after 2000). The analysis discusses standard land-use metrics as established in the life-cycle assessment literature, and then discusses their applicability to wind power plants. The report identifies two major 'classes' of wind plant land use: 1) direct impact (i.e., disturbed land due to physical infrastructure development), and 2) total area (i.e., land associated with the complete wind plant project). The analysis also provides data for each of these classes, derived from project applications, environmental impact statements, and other sources. It attempts to identify relationships among land use, wind plant configuration, and geography. The analysts evaluated 172 existing or proposed projects, which represents more than 26 GW of capacity. In addition to providing land-use data and summary statistics, they identify several limitations to the existing wind project area data sets, and suggest additional analysis that could aid in evaluating actual land use and impacts associated with deployment of wind energy.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-99GO10337
• OSTI ID: 964608
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP-6A2-45834
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
CAPACITY
CONFIGURATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS
Energy Analysis
GEOGRAPHY
LAND IMPACT
LAND USE
LIFE CYCLE
LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT
MADDALENA JACKSON
MAUREEN HAND
METRICS
NREL
PAUL DENHOM
SEAN ONG
STATISTICS
UNITED STATES
WIND CAPACITY
WIND ENERGY
WIND POWER
WIND POWER PLANTS
WIND PROJECT
Wind Energy