High-resolution large-scale onshore wind energy assessments: A review of potential definitions, methodologies and future research needs
File(s)
Published version
OA Location
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The rapid uptake of renewable energy technologies in recent decades has increased the demand of energy researchers, policymakers and energy planners for reliable data on the spatial distribution of their costs and potentials. For onshore wind energy this has resulted in an active research field devoted to analysing these resources for regions, countries or globally. A particular thread of this research attempts to go beyond purely technical or spatial restrictions and determine the realistic, feasible or actual potential for wind energy. Motivated by these developments, this paper reviews methods and assumptions for analysing geographical, technical, economic and, finally, feasible onshore wind potentials. We address each of these potentials in turn, including aspects related to land eligibility criteria, energy meteorology, and technical developments of wind turbine characteristics such as power density, specific rotor power and spacing aspects. Economic aspects of potential assessments are central to future deployment and are discussed on a turbine and system level covering levelized costs depending on locations, and the system integration costs which are often overlooked in such analyses. Non-technical approaches include scenicness assessments of the landscape, constraints due to regulation or public opposition, expert and stakeholder workshops, willingness to pay/accept elicitations and socioeconomic cost-benefit studies. For each of these different potential estimations, the state of the art is critically discussed, with an attempt to derive best practice recommendations and highlight avenues for future research.
Date Issued
2022-01
Date Acceptance
2021-10-07
Citation
Renewable Energy, 2022, 182, pp.659-684
ISSN
0960-1481
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
659
End Page
684
Journal / Book Title
Renewable Energy
Volume
182
Copyright Statement
© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Subjects
0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering
0913 Mechanical Engineering
0915 Interdisciplinary Engineering
Energy
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-10-09