IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v123y2018icp83-91.html

The spatial extent of renewable and non-renewable power generation: A review and meta-analysis of power densities and their application in the U.S

Author

Listed:
  • van Zalk, John
  • Behrens, Paul

Abstract

Energy systems are undergoing a significant shift to renewable energy (RE). To date, the surface area required for RE systems is greater than that for non-RE systems, exacerbating existing environmental policy challenges, from increasing land competition, to visual impacts. A suitable metric for comparing the extent of systems is the power density of electricity production, that is, the electrical power produced per horizontal m2 of surface area. This study systematically reviews power densities for 9 energy-types (wind, solar etc.) and multiple sub-types (e.g., for solar power: PV, solar thermal) in the United States. Median, mean, and uncertainty estimates are provided for 177 different densities from the literature. Non-renewable power densities are found to be three orders of magnitude larger than renewable densities. Natural gas and solar energy yield the highest median density per non-RE, and RE system respectively. Solar energy was the only system to experience a significant, positive relationship in power density over time. We apply these density estimates to NREL scenarios of future energy systems for state-specific assessments, and find that the largest growth in land use is in the southern United States.

Suggested Citation

  • van Zalk, John & Behrens, Paul, 2018. "The spatial extent of renewable and non-renewable power generation: A review and meta-analysis of power densities and their application in the U.S," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 83-91.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:123:y:2018:i:c:p:83-91
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421518305512
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.023?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chiabrando, Roberto & Fabrizio, Enrico & Garnero, Gabriele, 2009. "The territorial and landscape impacts of photovoltaic systems: Definition of impacts and assessment of the glare risk," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2441-2451, December.
    2. Ronald D. Sands, Katja Schumacher, and Hannah Forster, 2014. "U.S. CO2 Mitigation in a Global Context: Welfare, Trade and Land Use," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Special I).
    3. Gagnon, Luc & Belanger, Camille & Uchiyama, Yohji, 2002. "Life-cycle assessment of electricity generation options: The status of research in year 2001," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(14), pages 1267-1278, November.
    4. Jacobson, Mark Z. & Delucchi, Mark A., 2011. "Providing all global energy with wind, water, and solar power, Part I: Technologies, energy resources, quantities and areas of infrastructure, and materials," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1154-1169, March.
    5. Shum, Robert Y., 2017. "A comparison of land-use requirements in solar-based decarbonization scenarios," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 460-462.
    6. Delucchi, Mark A. & Jacobson, Mark Z., 2011. "Providing all global energy with wind, water, and solar power, Part II: Reliability, system and transmission costs, and policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1170-1190, March.
    7. Fthenakis, Vasilis & Kim, Hyung Chul, 2010. "Life-cycle uses of water in U.S. electricity generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(7), pages 2039-2048, September.
    8. Bridge, Gavin & Bouzarovski, Stefan & Bradshaw, Michael & Eyre, Nick, 2013. "Geographies of energy transition: Space, place and the low-carbon economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 331-340.
    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. James McCarthy, 2015. "A socioecological fix to capitalist crisis and climate change? The possibilities and limits of renewable energy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 47(12), pages 2485-2502, December.
    2. Ioannidis, Romanos & Koutsoyiannis, Demetris, 2020. "A review of land use, visibility and public perception of renewable energy in the context of landscape impact," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    3. David Gattie & Michael Hewitt, 2023. "National Security as a Value-Added Proposition for Advanced Nuclear Reactors: A U.S. Focus," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-26, August.
    4. Moroni, Stefano & Antoniucci, Valentina & Bisello, Adriano, 2016. "Energy sprawl, land taking and distributed generation: towards a multi-layered density," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 266-273.
    5. Hong, Sanghyun & Bradshaw, Corey J.A. & Brook, Barry W., 2014. "Nuclear power can reduce emissions and maintain a strong economy: Rating Australia’s optimal future electricity-generation mix by technologies and policies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 712-725.
    6. Ronnie D. Lipschutz & Dustin Mulvaney, 2013. "The road not taken, round II: centralized vs. distributed energy strategies and human security," Chapters, in: Hugh Dyer & Maria Julia Trombetta (ed.), International Handbook of Energy Security, chapter 22, pages 483-506, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Peter Lund, 2012. "The European Union challenge: integration of energy, climate, and economic policy," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 60-68, July.
    8. Firth, Anton & Zhang, Bo & Yang, Aidong, 2019. "Quantification of global waste heat and its environmental effects," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1314-1334.
    9. Wu, Jy S. & Tseng, Hui-Kuan & Liu, Xiaoshuai, 2022. "Techno-economic assessment of bioenergy potential on marginal croplands in the U.S. southeast," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    10. Wu, Yunyang & Reedman, Luke J. & Barrett, Mark A. & Spataru, Catalina, 2018. "Comparison of CST with different hours of storage in the Australian National Electricity Market," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 487-496.
    11. Romanic, Djordje & Parvu, Dan & Refan, Maryam & Hangan, Horia, 2018. "Wind and tornado climatologies and wind resource modelling for a modern development situated in “Tornado Alley”," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 97-112.
    12. Connolly, D. & Lund, H. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2016. "Smart Energy Europe: The technical and economic impact of one potential 100% renewable energy scenario for the European Union," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1634-1653.
    13. Rodriguez, Rolando A. & Becker, Sarah & Greiner, Martin, 2015. "Cost-optimal design of a simplified, highly renewable pan-European electricity system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 658-668.
    14. Stock, Ryan, 2021. "Bright as night: Illuminating the antinomies of ‘gender positive’ solar development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    15. Turner, Graham M. & West, James, 2012. "Environmental implications of electricity generation in an integrated long-term planning framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 316-332.
    16. Stoll, Pia & Brandt, Nils & Nordström, Lars, 2014. "Including dynamic CO2 intensity with demand response," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 490-500.
    17. Jacobson, Mark Z. & Howarth, Robert W. & Delucchi, Mark A. & Scobie, Stan R. & Barth, Jannette M. & Dvorak, Michael J. & Klevze, Megan & Katkhuda, Hind & Miranda, Brian & Chowdhury, Navid A. & Jones, , 2013. "Response to comment on paper examining the feasibility of changing New York state's energy infrastructure to one derived from wind, water, and sunlight," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1212-1215.
    18. 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.
    19. Amor, Mourad Ben & Pineau, Pierre-Olivier & Gaudreault, Caroline & Samson, Réjean, 2012. "Assessing the economic value of renewable distributed generation in the Northeastern American market," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 5687-5695.
    20. Lamy, Julian & Azevedo, Inês L. & Jaramillo, Paulina, 2014. "The role of energy storage in accessing remote wind resources in the Midwest," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 123-131.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:enepol:v:123:y:2018:i:c:p:83-91. 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/locate/enpol .

    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.