Sammendrag
Energy generated from land-based wind power is expected to play a crucial role in the decarbonisation
of the economy. With the looming biodiversity and nature crises, spatial allocation of wind power
cannot, however, any longer be considered solely a trade-off against local disamenity costs. Emphasis
should also be put on wider environmental impacts, especially if these challenge the sustainability of
the whole renewable energy transition. We suggest a modelling system for spatial allocation of wind
power plants (WPPs) by combining an energy system model with a comprehensive GIS analysis of
WPP sites and surrounding viewscapes. The modelling approach integrates monetary cost estimates of
local disamenity and loss of carbon sequestration, and impacts on wilderness and biodiversity
implemented as sustainability constraints on the model. Simulating scenarios for the Norwegian energy
system towards 2050, we find that the southern part of Norway is the most favourable region for wind
power siting when only the energy system surplus is considered. However, when gradually adding local
disamenity costs (and to a lesser extent carbon costs) and the sustainability constraints, the more
beneficial siting in the northern part of Norway become. We find that the sustainability constraints have
the largest impact on the spatial distribution of WPPs, but the monetised costs of satisfying them are
shown to be modest. Overall, results show that there is a trade-off between local disamenities and loss
of biodiversity and wilderness. Siting wind power plants outside the visual proximity of households yield
negative consequences for biodiversity and wilderness.
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