TY - JOUR
T1 - High-resolution large-scale onshore wind energy assessments
T2 - A review of potential definitions, methodologies and future research needs
AU - McKenna, Russell
AU - Pfenninger, Stefan
AU - Heinrichs, Heidi
AU - Schmidt, Johannes
AU - Staffell, Iain
AU - Bauer, Christian
AU - Gruber, Katharina
AU - Hahmann, Andrea N.
AU - Jansen, Malte
AU - Klingler, Michael
AU - Landwehr, Natascha
AU - Larsén, Xiaoli Guo
AU - Lilliestam, Johan
AU - Pickering, Bryn
AU - Robinius, Martin
AU - Tröndle, Tim
AU - Turkovska, Olga
AU - Wehrle, Sebastian
AU - Weinand, Jann Michael
AU - Wohland, Jan
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Onshore wind
KW - Planning constraints
KW - Research priorities
KW - Resource assessments
KW - Social acceptance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117767161&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.renene.2021.10.027
DO - 10.1016/j.renene.2021.10.027
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85117767161
SN - 0960-1481
VL - 182
SP - 659
EP - 684
JO - Renewable Energy
JF - Renewable Energy
ER -