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Spatial context matters: assessing how future renewable energy pathways will impact nature and society

Spatial context matters: assessing how future renewable energy pathways will impact nature and society
Spatial context matters: assessing how future renewable energy pathways will impact nature and society
Pathways to decarbonisation are commonly explored by government and industry through the use of energy system models. However, such models rarely consider where new energy infrastructure might be located. This is problematic as the spatial context of new renewable energy infrastructure will determine, in part, the environmental, social, and technical impacts of the energy transition. This paper presents the ADVENT-NEV model which brings together innovations in energy and natural capital modelling to identify the optimal locations of multiple renewable energy technologies at a national scale and high spatial resolution. Using Great Britain as a case study, the results show how the spatial distribution of renewable energy technologies changes when a natural capital approach is taken. In particular, the least-cost locations for onshore wind farms and bioenergy crops are highly influenced by the value of carbon sequestration, or emissions associated with their land use change. Siting using a natural capital approach produced appreciable ecosystem service benefits, such that the overall welfare gain to society was estimated at nearly £25 B. Overall, this paper demonstrates that understanding the geospatial context of the energy transition is essential to identifying which renewable energy pathways are consistent with decarbonisation and environmental objectives.
Ecosystem services, Environmental impact, Land use change, Natural capital approach, Renewable energy, Spatial analysis
0960-1481
Delafield, Gemma
1eb7332a-e6d6-4a9b-aeae-77d942327e73
Smith, Greg S.
d0584976-9c2e-4690-81fe-f11a79009c20
Day, Brett
aeaabd35-27c3-4629-ab61-e3e719fe1161
Holland, Robert A.
9c245e65-06bb-4b0e-8214-2b00ad2a47df
Donnison, Caspar
de6eb3ba-68ba-4d9d-bee5-b84b12fe99c2
Hastings, Astley
6ce7681f-42ba-4778-9843-b47da761edb5
Taylor, Gail
Owen, Nathan
97f115c1-0499-4af8-9a69-119de448271f
Lovett, Andrew
b75a7fb5-4d52-43c7-88c9-5114df60198b
Delafield, Gemma
1eb7332a-e6d6-4a9b-aeae-77d942327e73
Smith, Greg S.
d0584976-9c2e-4690-81fe-f11a79009c20
Day, Brett
aeaabd35-27c3-4629-ab61-e3e719fe1161
Holland, Robert A.
9c245e65-06bb-4b0e-8214-2b00ad2a47df
Donnison, Caspar
de6eb3ba-68ba-4d9d-bee5-b84b12fe99c2
Hastings, Astley
6ce7681f-42ba-4778-9843-b47da761edb5
Taylor, Gail
Owen, Nathan
97f115c1-0499-4af8-9a69-119de448271f
Lovett, Andrew
b75a7fb5-4d52-43c7-88c9-5114df60198b

Delafield, Gemma, Smith, Greg S., Day, Brett, Holland, Robert A., Donnison, Caspar, Hastings, Astley, Taylor, Gail, Owen, Nathan and Lovett, Andrew (2024) Spatial context matters: assessing how future renewable energy pathways will impact nature and society. Renewable Energy, 220, [119385]. (doi:10.1016/j.renene.2023.119385).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Pathways to decarbonisation are commonly explored by government and industry through the use of energy system models. However, such models rarely consider where new energy infrastructure might be located. This is problematic as the spatial context of new renewable energy infrastructure will determine, in part, the environmental, social, and technical impacts of the energy transition. This paper presents the ADVENT-NEV model which brings together innovations in energy and natural capital modelling to identify the optimal locations of multiple renewable energy technologies at a national scale and high spatial resolution. Using Great Britain as a case study, the results show how the spatial distribution of renewable energy technologies changes when a natural capital approach is taken. In particular, the least-cost locations for onshore wind farms and bioenergy crops are highly influenced by the value of carbon sequestration, or emissions associated with their land use change. Siting using a natural capital approach produced appreciable ecosystem service benefits, such that the overall welfare gain to society was estimated at nearly £25 B. Overall, this paper demonstrates that understanding the geospatial context of the energy transition is essential to identifying which renewable energy pathways are consistent with decarbonisation and environmental objectives.

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Accepted/In Press date: 29 September 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 October 2023
Published date: January 2024
Additional Information: Funding Information: This research was undertaken through UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) Programmes, principally the ADdressing the Valuation of Energy and Nature Together (ADVENT) project. This was funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) (NE/M019713/1; NE/M019640/1; NE/M019705/1; NE/M019691/1; NE/M019799/1; NE/M019764/1) as well the UK Research and Innovation Energy Programme (EP/S029575/1). Research through the Feasibility of Afforestation and Biomass energy with carbon capture and storage for Greenhouse Gas Removal (FAB-GGR) (NE/P019951/1) project and the Advancing Analysis of Natural Capital in Landscape Decisions (ADVANCES) project (NE/T002115/1) was also incorporated into this study. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a ‘Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising. Funding Information: This research was undertaken through UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) Programmes, principally the ADdressing the Valuation of Energy and Nature Together (ADVENT) project. This was funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) ( NE/M019713/1 ; NE/M019640/1 ; NE/M019705/1 ; NE/M019691/1 ; NE/M019799/1 ; NE/M019764/1 ) as well the UK Research and Innovation Energy Programme ( EP/S029575/1 ). Research through the Feasibility of Afforestation and Biomass energy with carbon capture and storage for Greenhouse Gas Removal (FAB-GGR) (NE/P019951/1) project and the Advancing Analysis of Natural Capital in Landscape Decisions (ADVANCES) project (NE/T002115/1) was also incorporated into this study. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a ‘Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors
Keywords: Ecosystem services, Environmental impact, Land use change, Natural capital approach, Renewable energy, Spatial analysis
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Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 485544
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/485544
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.renene.2023.119385
ISSN: 0960-1481
PURE UUID: 4ea67be9-fd01-4c0d-81c3-4e0337b5af4a
ORCID for Robert A. Holland: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3038-9227

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Date deposited: 08 Dec 2023 17:44
Last modified: 14 May 2024 01:44

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Contributors

Author: Gemma Delafield
Author: Greg S. Smith
Author: Brett Day
Author: Robert A. Holland ORCID iD
Author: Caspar Donnison
Author: Astley Hastings
Author: Gail Taylor
Author: Nathan Owen
Author: Andrew Lovett

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