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focus:Science & Technology | GIS, abridged, from the journal of Renewable Energy
The Southern
Appalachians
The southern Appalachians
are comprised of large portions
of North Carolina, Virginia and
West Virginia, as well as smaller
segments of Kentucky and
Tennessee.
They consist of 210 counties
or county-equivalents and have
an estimated population of over
10 million.
Greening the
for future use, but locations have not
yet been approved and were therefore
not included in the study.
A
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION sys- and forest residue. These allow for
tem (GIS) has been developed as a first the cheapest and easiest utilisation
within the region. Such biomass can
step towards an integrated support system, also be co-fired with coal, causing
which will study the impact of investments minimal disruption to the generation
process - and also requiring minimal
in renewable energy. It is being used in the
investment.
greater southern Appalachian U.S. mountain region, A total of 31 coal plants that could
which currently gets over 83% of its energy from coal. be used for co-firing were identified
using the GIS model. Furthermore, a
National Renewable Energy Labo-
The GIS module’s purpose is to Based on 2007 US Energy Infor- ratory (NREL) dataset specified an
locate potential sites for wind and mation Administration (EIA) figures, estimated 9,571,545 tonnes of solid
solar farms based on geographic and the Appalachians have 148 electricity wood waste within the region.
regulatory characteristics, and to generating facilities producing a total If used for co-firing in coal plants,
characterise the potential for biomass of 198,474,165 MWh in baseline annu- biomass could replace 8.7% of coal
use. This information could be used ally. The region was chosen for the use in the region. Furthermore, the
to analyse renewable energy policies GIS study because it is dominated by model estimates the retrofit of coal
and investments, according to the coal-fired energy generation, while at plants for biomass co-fire to cost
researchers writing for the journal the same time it contains some of the US$100/kW installed. Based on the
Renewable Energy (click here for the best onshore wind power potential in installed capacity of almost 19 GW at
full unedited paper - http://tinyurl. the Eastern U.S. the 31 coal plants in the region, and
com/3hkmfhn). Currently, renewable energy if 8.7% of that capacity was dedicated
The study focuses on large-scale, generation consists of hydropower, to biomass co-fire, rough estimates
utility-grade solar and wind installa- biomass, wind and landfill gas – suggest it would represent a capital
tions due to the efficiencies that can totalling 3.15% of total generation, investment cost of US$164,961,100.
be achieved at larger scales, but also plus an additional 0.22% of co-fired
because small-scale and domestic generation - estimated to be derived Solar PV could reach 5 GW
installations often require very localised from biomass. The amount of solar insolation within
policy considerations. For biomass, the In terms of incentives, only North the southern Appalachians region is
study looks at solid wood waste in the Carolina has established a binding in the range of 4.19-5.01 kWh/m2/day
context of co-firing with coal. renewable portfolio standard (RPS), annually.
Estimateded
Estimated
ated
annual MWh
$/kWh h
generationon
generated
ated
at potential
tial
at potential
ential
wind farm m
wind farm
sites in the
he
sites in
n the
region.
region.
n.
the number of NLCD classifications also have an impact on urban land use slope and wind power class, no land is
permittable for wind farms is greater and airports. This requires so-called left for wind farms. The study therefore
than in the solar scenario. buffer zones between a wind farm and uses a small buffer for “Developed Open
One of the three forest classifica- the location of a specific land use or Space” land versus “Developed, Low/
tions make up 68.82% of the region conservation area. Buffer distances Medium/High Intensity” land, which
and 92.5% of the land with wind power are subject to local regulations, which reflects the fact that many of the land
class three is within this subset. could not be included in the study. uses classified in the former category
Wind is also affected by conserva- By using NREL’s buffer conditions, are roads, which would not impede
tion restrictions, but unlike solar, wind 99.995% of all land within the region wind farm development.
has further constraints due to visibility would be eliminated from consider- The one operational wind farm
and potential noise. Wind turbines can ation. When adding the constraints on within the region is in fact on land that
is constrained by the buffers in the GIS bordering areas of West Virginia. Appalachian Mountains, Pages 2785-
model, and other planned wind farms There are no potential sites in Ken- 2798, Copyright Elsevier (2011).
do not meet the constraints present in tucky, North Carolina or Tennessee. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2011.04.024
the model. The study therefore recom- In Kentucky and Tennessee, this
mends that more detailed planning is is mainly due to a lack of sufficient Renewable Energy, official journal
carried out at local levels. wind speeds. of the World Renewable Energy Net-
By taking all criteria into consid- work (WREN), seeks to promote and
eration, the model found 28,360 pos- Conclusions disseminate knowledge of the various
sible good wind farm locations. Each If the full potential of the renew- topics and technologies of renewable
area is 120 acres or more. A value of able energy sources identified in the energy. It is aimed at assisting research-
40 acres per wind turbine is seen as GIS model are realised, the total ers, economists, manufacturers, world
the minimum necessary for the GIS capital investment required would agencies and societies to keep abreast
model. be US$46.16bn, replacing 15.27% of of new developments in their specialist
Based on the constraints in the baseline generation. Combined with fields and to unite in finding alternative
GIS model, there is an estimated the current 3.25% of renewable energy solutions to current issues such as
capacity of over 1.8 TWp that could energy generation, the total renew- the greenhouse effect and the depletion
be installed in the region, capable able energy generation would reach of the ozone layer.
of an annual generation of over 6.4 18.52%.
TWh. This would represent 3.24% However, as no ‘one’ renewable
of the baseline amount. However energy came out as a substantial, Online: renewableenergyfocus.com
installing the full capacity of wind long-term solution to increase the FULL ARTICLE: Spatial Analysis of Renewable
power would require an estimated share of renewables, the study rec- Energy Potential in the Greater Southern
total investment of around US$13.4bn ommends exploring multiple sources Appalachian Mountains
and an average generation cost of of renewable energy to meet emis- http://tinyurl.com/3hkmfhn
US$0.1466/kWh. sions reductions and energy indepen-
Of the 202 potential wind sites, dency targets. Duke Energy and SunEdison Complete
46 have an estimated generation cost e: kariwilliamson.freelance@gmail.com 17.2MW Solar Farm
http://tinyurl.com/69mt7fh
under US$0.06993/kWh, whereas
the biggest cost for a potential site is This article was published in Renew- Gamesa Opens Offshore Wind Technology
US$0.4691/kWh. able Energy Vol 36 (2011), by Andrew Center in VA
Most of the potential wind sites N. Arnette and Christopher W. Zoebel, http://tinyurl.com/65corzd
are located in the upper west- Spatial Analysis of Renewable Energy UPS Deliveries Fueled by Biodiesel
ern portion of Virginia and the Potential in the Greater Southern http://tinyurl.com/66ns36y