Land Use Requirements of Modern Wind Power Plants in the United States [electronic resource].

Published:: Washington, D.C. : United States. Dept. of Energy, 2009.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy.
Physical Description:: 46 pages : digital, PDF file
Additional Creators:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (U.S.), United States. Department of Energy, and United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information

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Summary:

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.

Report Numbers:

E 1.99:nrel/tp-6a2-45834
nrel/tp-6a2-45834

Subject(s):

Wind Energy

Other Subject(s):

Note:

Published through SciTech Connect.
08/01/2009.
"nrel/tp-6a2-45834"
Jackson, M.; Ong, S.; Hand, M.; Denholm, P.

Funding Information:

AC36-99-GO10337

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