IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v13y2009i6-7p1314-1325.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An empirical analysis of the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • del Río, Pablo
  • Burguillo, Mercedes

Abstract

It is usually mentioned that renewable energy sources (RES) have a large potential to contribute to the sustainable development of specific territories by providing them with a wide variety of socioeconomic benefits, including diversification of energy supply, enhanced regional and rural development opportunities, creation of a domestic industry and employment opportunities. The analysis of these benefits has usually been too general (i.e., mostly at the national level) and a focus on the regional and especially the local level has been lacking. This paper empirically analyses those benefits, by applying a conceptual and methodological framework previously developed by the authors to three renewable energy technologies in three different places in Spain. With the help of case studies, the paper shows that the contribution of RES to the economic and social dimensions of sustainable development might be significant. Particularly important is employment creation in these areas. Although, in absolute terms, the number of jobs created may not be high, it may be so with respect to the existing jobs in the areas considered. Socioeconomic benefits depend on several factors, and not only on the type of renewable energy, as has usually been mentioned. The specific socioeconomic features of the territories, including the productive structure of the area, the relationships between the stakeholders and the involvement of the local actors in the renewable energy project may play a relevant role in this regard. Furthermore, other local (socioeconomic) sustainability aspects beyond employment creation should be considered.

Suggested Citation

  • del Río, Pablo & Burguillo, Mercedes, 2009. "An empirical analysis of the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(6-7), pages 1314-1325, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:13:y:2009:i:6-7:p:1314-1325
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364-0321(08)00104-4
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robinson, John, 2004. "Squaring the circle? Some thoughts on the idea of sustainable development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 369-384, April.
    2. Míguez, J.L. & López-González, L.M. & Sala, J.M. & Porteiro, J. & Granada, E. & Morán, J.C. & Juárez, M.C., 2006. "Review of compliance with EU-2010 targets on renewable energy in Galicia (Spain)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 225-247, June.
    3. Faulin, Javier & Lera, Fernando & Pintor, Jesus M. & Garcia, Justo, 2006. "The outlook for renewable energy in Navarre: An economic profile," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(15), pages 2201-2216, October.
    4. Hillebrand, Bernhard & Buttermann, Hans Georg & Behringer, Jean Marc & Bleuel, Michaela, 2006. "The expansion of renewable energies and employment effects in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 3484-3494, December.
    5. Reddy, V. Ratna & Uitto, Juha I. & Frans, Dirk R. & Matin, Nilufar, 2006. "Achieving global environmental benefits through local development of clean energy? The case of small hilly hydel in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 4069-4080, December.
    6. del Río, Pablo & Burguillo, Mercedes, 2008. "Assessing the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability: Towards a theoretical framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 1325-1344, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. del Río, Pablo & Burguillo, Mercedes, 2008. "Assessing the impact of renewable energy deployment on local sustainability: Towards a theoretical framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 1325-1344, June.
    2. Moreno, Blanca & López, Ana Jesús, 2008. "The effect of renewable energy on employment. The case of Asturias (Spain)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 732-751, April.
    3. Yadira Mori Clement & Birgit Bednar-Friedl, 2017. "Do Clean Development Mechanism projects generate local employment? Testing for sectoral effects across Brazilian municipalities," Graz Economics Papers 2017-05, University of Graz, Department of Economics.
    4. Mori-Clement, Yadira & Bednar-Friedl, Birgit, 2019. "Do Clean Development Mechanism Projects Generate Local Employment? Testing for Sectoral Effects across Brazilian Municipalities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 47-60.
    5. Nicholas Apergis, 2015. "Does renewables production affect income inequality? Evidence from an international panel of countries," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(11), pages 865-868, July.
    6. Topcu, Mert & Tugcu, Can Tansel, 2020. "The impact of renewable energy consumption on income inequality: Evidence from developed countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 1134-1140.
    7. de Alegría Mancisidor, Itziar Martínez & Díaz de Basurto Uraga, Pablo & Martínez de Alegría Mancisidor, Iñigo & Ruiz de Arbulo López, Patxi, 2009. "European Union's renewable energy sources and energy efficiency policy review: The Spanish perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 100-114, January.
    8. Raitano, Michele & Romano, Eleonora & Zoppoli, Pietro, 2017. "Renewable energy sources in Italy: Sectorial intensity and effects on earnings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 117-127.
    9. Damien Bazin & Emna Omri & Nouri Chtourou, 2015. "Solar Thermal Energy for Sustainable Development in Tunisia," Post-Print halshs-01070616, HAL.
    10. Llera, E. & Scarpellini, S. & Aranda, A. & Zabalza, I., 2013. "Forecasting job creation from renewable energy deployment through a value-chain approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 262-271.
    11. Michele Raitano & Eleonora Romano & Pietro Zoppoli, 2016. "The sectorial intensity of production of renewable energy sources in Italy:measurement and effects on earnings," Working Papers 1, Department of the Treasury, Ministry of the Economy and of Finance.
    12. Jenniches, Simon, 2018. "Assessing the regional economic impacts of renewable energy sources – A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 35-51.
    13. Quijano Pedrosa, Ana & Rico Gonzalez, Margarita, 2011. "Contribución de la bioenergía al desarrollo sostenible del medio rural. Análisis para Castilla y León/Bioenergy contribution to sustainable rural development. Analysis for Castilla y León," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 29, pages 309-332, Abril.
    14. Apergis, Emmanuel & Apergis, Nicholas, 2017. "The role of rare earth prices in renewable energy consumption: The actual driver for a renewable energy world," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 33-42.
    15. Sooriyaarachchi, Thilanka M. & Tsai, I-Tsung & El Khatib, Sameh & Farid, Amro M. & Mezher, Toufic, 2015. "Job creation potentials and skill requirements in, PV, CSP, wind, water-to-energy and energy efficiency value chains," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 653-668.
    16. Lambert, Rosebud Jasmine & Silva, Patrícia Pereira, 2012. "The challenges of determining the employment effects of renewable energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 4667-4674.
    17. Omri, Emna & Chtourou, Nouri & Bazin, Damien, 2015. "Solar thermal energy for sustainable development in Tunisia: The case of the PROSOL project," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1312-1323.
    18. del Río, Pablo, 2011. "Analysing future trends of renewable electricity in the EU in a low-carbon context," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 2520-2533, June.
    19. Luigi Aldieri & Jonas Grafström & Kristoffer Sundström & Concetto Paolo Vinci, 2019. "Wind Power and Job Creation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:13:y:2009:i:6-7:p:1314-1325. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.