IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v67y2017icp397-407.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conflicts between decentralized renewable electricity production and landscape services – A spatially-explicit quantitative assessment for Switzerland

Author

Listed:
  • Kienast, Felix
  • Huber, Nica
  • Hergert, Rico
  • Bolliger, Janine
  • Moran, Lorena Segura
  • Hersperger, Anna M.

Abstract

The production of decentralized renewable electricity often collides with provisioning, regulating and cultural services of the landscape. In this paper we operationalize the landscape service approach and generate conflict maps between three renewable energies (wind; PV; forest biomass) and six competing landscape services (nutrition and materials; aesthetics; physical and experiential interactions; heritage and symbolic content; water and liquid flows; lifecycle maintenance, habitat and gene pool protection). Media content analysis and expert interviews were used to ground-truth the national conflict maps in several Swiss regions and to understand to what degree the national conflict assessments match the regional and local perceptions of these conflicts. In Switzerland (approximately 40,000km2) biomass from forests is by far the least conflicting renewable energy, followed by PV on roofs. For the latter 68% of the technically feasible energy potential can be generated with low conflicts, and more is expected with new materials. Wind has a high conflict potential: only 12% of the technically feasible energy potential is low conflict. PV on open land, marginal land and shrubland, is – at the moment – not currently feasible in Switzerland. The accuracy of our conflict assessment is sufficiently high to estimate the proportion that socially sustainable energy could cover of the overall energy gap of 22–25TWh/yr caused by the phase-out of Swiss nuclear plants by 2050. Low-conflict solar energy from rooftops could contribute approximately 30% of the required 22–25TWh/yr. Intensified wood production and wind energy could add another 40%. The gap of approximately 30% must come from undisputed energy sources such as biogas from recycled organic material, from centralized renewable energies such as geothermal or large hydropower, or from new or technologically improved renewable energies. The presented decision support tools are a timely contribution to the designation of legally binding zones for renewable energy production.

Suggested Citation

  • Kienast, Felix & Huber, Nica & Hergert, Rico & Bolliger, Janine & Moran, Lorena Segura & Hersperger, Anna M., 2017. "Conflicts between decentralized renewable electricity production and landscape services – A spatially-explicit quantitative assessment for Switzerland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 397-407.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:67:y:2017:i:c:p:397-407
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.09.045
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136403211630538X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2016.09.045?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Anna M. Hersperger & Maria-Pia Gennaio Franscini & Daniel Kübler, 2014. "Actors, Decisions and Policy Changes in Local Urbanization," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(6), pages 1301-1319, June.
    2. Troy, Austin & Wilson, Matthew A., 2006. "Mapping ecosystem services: Practical challenges and opportunities in linking GIS and value transfer," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 435-449, December.
    3. de Groot, Rudolf S. & Wilson, Matthew A. & Boumans, Roelof M. J., 2002. "A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 393-408, June.
    4. Hastik, Richard & Basso, Stefano & Geitner, Clemens & Haida, Christin & Poljanec, Aleš & Portaccio, Alessia & Vrščaj, Borut & Walzer, Chris, 2015. "Renewable energies and ecosystem service impacts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 608-623.
    5. Angelis-Dimakis, Athanasios & Biberacher, Markus & Dominguez, Javier & Fiorese, Giulia & Gadocha, Sabine & Gnansounou, Edgard & Guariso, Giorgio & Kartalidis, Avraam & Panichelli, Luis & Pinedo, Irene, 2011. "Methods and tools to evaluate the availability of renewable energy sources," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 1182-1200, February.
    6. Jongbloed, R.H. & van der Wal, J.T. & Lindeboom, H.J., 2014. "Identifying space for offshore wind energy in the North Sea. Consequences of scenario calculations for interactions with other marine uses," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 320-333.
    7. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12867 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Josimović, Boško & Pucar, Mila, 2010. "The strategic environmental impact assessment of electric wind energy plants: Case study ‘Bavanište’ (Serbia)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1509-1519.
    9. Kienast, Felix & Frick, Jacqueline & van Strien, Maarten J. & Hunziker, Marcel, 2015. "The Swiss Landscape Monitoring Program – A comprehensive indicator set to measure landscape change," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 295(C), pages 136-150.
    10. Milbrandt, Anelia R. & Heimiller, Donna M. & Perry, Andrew D. & Field, Christopher B., 2014. "Renewable energy potential on marginal lands in the United States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 473-481.
    11. 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.
    12. Dale, Virginia H. & Kline, Keith L. & Buford, Marilyn A. & Volk, Timothy A. & Tattersall Smith, C. & Stupak, Inge, 2016. "Incorporating bioenergy into sustainable landscape designs," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1158-1171.
    13. Papathanasopoulou, Eleni & Beaumont, Nicola & Hooper, Tara & Nunes, Joana & Queirós, Ana M., 2015. "Energy systems and their impacts on marine ecosystem services," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 917-926.
    14. Eleftheriadis, Iordanis M. & Anagnostopoulou, Evgenia G., 2015. "Identifying barriers in the diffusion of renewable energy sources," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 153-164.
    15. Gissi, Elena & Gaglio, Mattias & Reho, Matelda, 2016. "Sustainable energy potential from biomass through ecosystem services trade-off analysis: The case of the Province of Rovigo (Northern Italy)," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 1-19.
    16. Denholm, Paul & Margolis, Robert M., 2008. "Land-use requirements and the per-capita solar footprint for photovoltaic generation in the United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3531-3543, September.
    17. Dijkman, T.J. & Benders, R.M.J., 2010. "Comparison of renewable fuels based on their land use using energy densities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(9), pages 3148-3155, December.
    18. Mundaca, Luis & Luth Richter, Jessika, 2015. "Assessing ‘green energy economy’ stimulus packages: Evidence from the U.S. programs targeting renewable energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1174-1186.
    19. Lester, Sarah E. & Costello, Christopher & Halpern, Benjamin S. & Gaines, Steven D. & White, Crow & Barth, John A., 2013. "Evaluating tradeoffs among ecosystem services to inform marine spatial planning," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 80-89.
    20. Benson, Christopher L. & Magee, Christopher L., 2014. "On improvement rates for renewable energy technologies: Solar PV, wind turbines, capacitors, and batteries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 745-751.
    21. Wüstenhagen, Rolf & Menichetti, Emanuela, 2012. "Strategic choices for renewable energy investment: Conceptual framework and opportunities for further research," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-10.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mamun, Mohammad Abdullah Al & Dargusch, Paul & Wadley, David & Zulkarnain, Noor Azwa & Aziz, Ammar Abdul, 2022. "A review of research on agrivoltaic systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    2. Valerii Havrysh & Antonina Kalinichenko & Edyta Szafranek & Vasyl Hruban, 2022. "Agricultural Land: Crop Production or Photovoltaic Power Plants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-23, April.
    3. Mohr, Lukas & Burg, Vanessa & Thees, Oliver & Trutnevyte, Evelina, 2019. "Spatial hot spots and clusters of bioenergy combined with socio-economic analysis in Switzerland," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 840-851.
    4. McKenna, Russell & Pfenninger, Stefan & Heinrichs, Heidi & Schmidt, Johannes & Staffell, Iain & Bauer, Christian & Gruber, Katharina & Hahmann, Andrea N. & Jansen, Malte & Klingler, Michael & Landwehr, 2022. "High-resolution large-scale onshore wind energy assessments: A review of potential definitions, methodologies and future research needs," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 659-684.
    5. Meike Fienitz & Rosemarie Siebert, 2022. "“It Is a Total Drama”: Land Use Conflicts in Local Land Use Actors’ Experience," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-20, April.
    6. Buffat, René & Raubal, Martin, 2019. "Spatio-temporal potential of a biogenic micro CHP swarm in Switzerland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 443-454.
    7. Martínez-Martínez, Yenisleidy & Dewulf, Jo & Aguayo, Mauricio & Casas-Ledón, Yannay, 2023. "Sustainable wind energy planning through ecosystem service impact valuation and exergy: A study case in south-central Chile," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    8. Jobin, Marilou & Siegrist, Michael, 2018. "We choose what we like – Affect as a driver of electricity portfolio choice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 736-747.
    9. Scherhaufer, Patrick & Höltinger, Stefan & Salak, Boris & Schauppenlehner, Thomas & Schmidt, Johannes, 2017. "Patterns of acceptance and non-acceptance within energy landscapes: A case study on wind energy expansion in Austria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 863-870.
    10. Tafarte, Philip & Lehmann, Paul, 2023. "Quantifying trade-offs for the spatial allocation of onshore wind generation capacity – A case study for Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    11. Edita Tverijonaite & Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir, 2024. "Hydro, Wind, and Geothermal: Navigating the Compatibility of Renewable Energy Infrastructure with Tourism," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-16, January.
    12. Picchi, Paolo & van Lierop, Martina & Geneletti, Davide & Stremke, Sven, 2019. "Advancing the relationship between renewable energy and ecosystem services for landscape planning and design: A literature review," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 241-259.
    13. Spielhofer, R. & Thrash, T. & Hayek, U. Wissen & Grêt-Regamey, A. & Salak, B. & Grübel, J. & Schinazi, V.R., 2021. "Physiological and behavioral reactions to renewable energy systems in various landscape types," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    14. Franziska Steinberger & Tobias Minder & Evelina Trutnevyte, 2020. "Efficiency versus Equity in Spatial Siting of Electricity Generation: Citizen Preferences in a Serious Board Game in Switzerland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    15. Tafarte, Philip & Lehmann, Paul, 2021. "Quantifying trade-offs for the spatial allocation of onshore wind generation capacity: A case study for Germany," UFZ Discussion Papers 2/2021, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    16. Kazak, Jan & van Hoof, Joost & Szewranski, Szymon, 2017. "Challenges in the wind turbines location process in Central Europe – The use of spatial decision support systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 425-433.
    17. Lotte M. Lutz & Daniel J. Lang & Henrik Von Wehrden, 2017. "Facilitating Regional Energy Transition Strategies: Toward a Typology of Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-17, September.
    18. Lehmann, Paul & Ammermann, Kathrin & Gawel, Erik & Geiger, Charlotte & Hauck, Jennifer & Heilmann, Jörg & Meier, Jan-Niklas & Ponitka, Jens & Schicketanz, Sven & Stemmer, Boris & Tafarte, Philip & Thr, 2021. "Managing spatial sustainability trade-offs: The case of wind power," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    19. Leirpoll, Malene Eldegard & Næss, Jan Sandstad & Cavalett, Otavio & Dorber, Martin & Hu, Xiangping & Cherubini, Francesco, 2021. "Optimal combination of bioenergy and solar photovoltaic for renewable energy production on abandoned cropland," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 45-56.

    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. Egli, Thomas & Bolliger, Janine & Kienast, Felix, 2017. "Evaluating ecosystem service trade-offs with wind electricity production in Switzerland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 863-875.
    2. Curtin, Joseph & McInerney, Celine & Ó Gallachóir, Brian, 2017. "Financial incentives to mobilise local citizens as investors in low-carbon technologies: A systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 534-547.
    3. Meixler, Marcia S., 2017. "Assessment of Hurricane Sandy damage and resulting loss in ecosystem services in a coastal-urban setting," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 28-46.
    4. Frélichová, Jana & VaÄ kář, David & Pártl, Adam & LouÄ ková, Blanka & HarmÃ¡Ä ková, Zuzana V. & Lorencová, EliÅ¡ka, 2014. "Integrated assessment of ecosystem services in the Czech Republic," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 8(C), pages 110-117.
    5. Houdet, Joël & Trommetter, Michel & Weber, Jacques, 2012. "Understanding changes in business strategies regarding biodiversity and ecosystem services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 37-46.
    6. Valerii Havrysh & Antonina Kalinichenko & Edyta Szafranek & Vasyl Hruban, 2022. "Agricultural Land: Crop Production or Photovoltaic Power Plants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-23, April.
    7. Calvert, K. & Pearce, J.M. & Mabee, W.E., 2013. "Toward renewable energy geo-information infrastructures: Applications of GIScience and remote sensing that build institutional capacity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 416-429.
    8. Qu, Yang & Swales, J. Kim & Hooper, Tara & Austen, Melanie C. & Wang, Xinhao & Papathanasopoulou, Eleni & Huang, Junling & Yan, Xiaoyu, 2023. "Economic trade-offs in marine resource use between offshore wind farms and fisheries in Scottish waters," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    9. Crossman, Neville D. & Bryan, Brett A., 2009. "Identifying cost-effective hotspots for restoring natural capital and enhancing landscape multifunctionality," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 654-668, January.
    10. Valencia Torres, Angélica & Tiwari, Chetan & Atkinson, Samuel F., 2021. "Progress in ecosystem services research: A guide for scholars and practitioners," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    11. Moore, Rebecca & Williams, Tiffany & Rodriguez, Eduardo, 2011. "Valuing Ecosystem Services from Private Forests," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 103717, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Horner, Robert M. & Clark, Corrie E., 2013. "Characterizing variability and reducing uncertainty in estimates of solar land use energy intensity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 129-137.
    13. Mazzucato, Mariana & Semieniuk, Gregor, 2018. "Financing renewable energy: Who is financing what and why it matters," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 8-22.
    14. Polzin, Friedemann & Egli, Florian & Steffen, Bjarne & Schmidt, Tobias S., 2019. "How do policies mobilize private finance for renewable energy?—A systematic review with an investor perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 1249-1268.
    15. Caldow, Chris & Monaco, Mark E. & Pittman, Simon J. & Kendall, Matthew S. & Goedeke, Theresa L. & Menza, Charles & Kinlan, Brian P. & Costa, Bryan M., 2015. "Biogeographic assessments: A framework for information synthesis in marine spatial planning," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 423-432.
    16. Kroeger, Timm & Casey, Frank, 2007. "An assessment of market-based approaches to providing ecosystem services on agricultural lands," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 321-332, December.
    17. Grashof, Katherina, 2019. "Are auctions likely to deter community wind projects? And would this be problematic?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 20-32.
    18. Yanık, Seda & Sürer, Özge & Öztayşi, Başar, 2016. "Designing sustainable energy regions using genetic algorithms and location-allocation approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 161-172.
    19. Ian Bateman & Georgina Mace & Carlo Fezzi & Giles Atkinson & Kerry Turner, 2011. "Economic Analysis for Ecosystem Service Assessments," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(2), pages 177-218, February.
    20. Saha, Mithun & Eckelman, Matthew J., 2015. "Geospatial assessment of potential bioenergy crop production on urban marginal land," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 540-547.

    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:67:y:2017:i:c:p:397-407. 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.