Landmark study puts cost of windfarm development in the picture

Landmark study puts cost of windfarm development in the picture

A landmark study has found that excluding windfarm development in Great Britain's most scenic areas results in 18% less renewable electricity generation potential and up to 26% higher costs for operators.

The study led by the University of Aberdeen used a website where people rate pictures of landscapes across the country on their scenic value, comparing over a million ratings with the outcome of wind farm planning applications in areas rated the most scenic.

It is the first time that data has been used at a national scale to judge how the beauty of the environment impacts onshore windfarm development.  Scientists believe it will help policymakers manage the trade-off between public acceptance and the costs of the required development as part of the energy transition.

The data is drawn from the Scenic or Not website, which is managed by the Data Science Lab at Warwick Business School.

The study, which has been published in the journal Nature Energy, was led by Professor Russell McKenna, from the University of Aberdeen’s School of Engineering, and involves academics from institutions in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK*. 

Professor McKenna said: “Previously, the beauty of our environment has proven very challenging to quantify at scale due to a lack of appropriate data.  This study plugs that gap by drawing on more than a million ratings of more than 200,000 photographs and feeding the data into a model of onshore wind generation.

“Our approach involves using the Scenic or Not website to estimate where the strongest landscape impact of onshore wind might be.

“We then analyse the relationship between windfarm application planning outcomes and the scenic value of a particular location, drawing on resource assessments for low carbon technologies to estimate the connection costs of new windfarms to the network.

“This allows us to quantify the impact of excluding the most scenic areas from consideration for windfarm development.  Our results show that not allowing wind farm installations in the 10% most scenic areas in the UK leads to 18% lower generation potential, and 8-26% higher costs for operators, which could ultimately result in higher prices for consumers.”

Professor McKenna, who has recorded a podcast that further explains his findings, added that the study provides a valuable resource for policymakers to develop national plans for future renewable energy generation.

“The research will help policymakers manage the trade-off between cost-efficiency and public acceptance for onshore wind,” he said.

“Compromises are required at all levels to achieve the energy transition. To effectively address these compromises, policy needs to incentivise investments in onshore wind that consider both cost and landscape as quality criteria.”

Search News

Browse by Month

2024

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2024
  5. May There are no items to show for May 2024
  6. Jun
  7. Jul There are no items to show for July 2024
  8. Aug There are no items to show for August 2024
  9. Sep There are no items to show for September 2024
  10. Oct There are no items to show for October 2024
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2024
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2024

2023

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2023
  5. May There are no items to show for May 2023
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2023
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct There are no items to show for October 2023
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2023
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2023

2020

  1. Jan There are no items to show for January 2020
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2020
  3. Mar There are no items to show for March 2020
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

2019

  1. Jan
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2019
  3. Mar There are no items to show for March 2019
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2019
  5. May There are no items to show for May 2019
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2019
  7. Jul There are no items to show for July 2019
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct There are no items to show for October 2019
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2019
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2019

2018

  1. Jan
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2018
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May There are no items to show for May 2018
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2018
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

2017

  1. Jan There are no items to show for January 2017
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2017
  7. Jul There are no items to show for July 2017
  8. Aug There are no items to show for August 2017
  9. Sep There are no items to show for September 2017
  10. Oct There are no items to show for October 2017
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2017
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2017

2016

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep There are no items to show for September 2016
  10. Oct
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2016
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2016

2014

  1. Jan There are no items to show for January 2014
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2014
  3. Mar There are no items to show for March 2014
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

2013

  1. Jan There are no items to show for January 2013
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2013
  3. Mar There are no items to show for March 2013
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2013
  5. May
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2013
  7. Jul There are no items to show for July 2013
  8. Aug There are no items to show for August 2013
  9. Sep There are no items to show for September 2013
  10. Oct There are no items to show for October 2013
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2013
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2013

2012

  1. Jan There are no items to show for January 2012
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2012
  3. Mar
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2012
  5. May There are no items to show for May 2012
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2012
  7. Jul There are no items to show for July 2012
  8. Aug There are no items to show for August 2012
  9. Sep There are no items to show for September 2012
  10. Oct There are no items to show for October 2012
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2012
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2012

2011

  1. Jan There are no items to show for January 2011
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2011
  3. Mar There are no items to show for March 2011
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2011
  5. May There are no items to show for May 2011
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2011
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2011