Environmental impacts from the installation and operation of large-scale solar power plants

Turney, Damon E.; Fthenakis, Vasilis

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2011.04.023

Cited by 360 publications

(224 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…However, conflicts can also arise between renewable energy and nature conservation policy. The environmental impacts from photovoltaic power generation include general effects on visual impact, land use intensity, wildlife impacts, reflection effects, depletion of natural resources, and waste management (Torres-Sibille et al, 2009;Tsoutsos et al, 2005;Turney and Ftenakis, 2011). Although the number of direct animal deaths at solar parks, is thought to be negligible (Katzner et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal site selection for sitting a solar park using multi-criteria decision analysis and geographical information systems

Georgiou

Skarlatos

2016

Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst.

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Abstract. Among the renewable power sources, solar power is rapidly becoming popular because it is inexhaustible, clean, and dependable. It has also become more efficient since the power conversion efficiency of photovoltaic solar cells has increased. Following these trends, solar power will become more affordable in years to come and considerable investments are to be expected. Despite the size of solar plants, the sitting procedure is a crucial factor for their efficiency and financial viability. Many aspects influence such a decision: legal, environmental, technical, and financial to name a few. This paper describes a general integrated framework to evaluate land suitability for the optimal placement of photovoltaic solar power plants, which is based on a combination of a geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing techniques, and multi-criteria decision-making methods.An application of the proposed framework for the Limassol district in Cyprus is further illustrated. The combination of a GIS and multi-criteria methods produces an excellent analysis tool that creates an extensive database of spatial and non-spatial data, which will be used to simplify problems as well as solve and promote the use of multiple criteria. A set of environmental, economic, social, and technical constrains, based on recent Cypriot legislation, European's Union policies, and expert advice, identifies the potential sites for solar park installation. The pairwise comparison method in the context of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied to estimate the criteria weights in order to establish their relative importance in site evaluation. In addition, four different methods to combine information layers and check their sensitivity were used. The first considered all the criteria as being equally important and assigned them equal weight, whereas the others grouped the criteria and graded them according to their objective perceived importance. The overall suitability of the study region for sitting solar parks is appraised through the summation rule.Strict application of the framework depicts 3.0 % of the study region scoring a best-suitability index for solar resource exploitation, hence minimizing the risk in a potential investment. However, using different weighting schemes for criteria, suitable areas may reach up to 83 % of the study region. The suggested methodological framework applied can be easily utilized by potential investors and renewable energy developers, through a front end web-based application with proper GUI for personalized weighting schemes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal site selection for sitting a solar park using multi-criteria decision analysis and geographical information systems

Georgiou

Skarlatos

2016

Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst.

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“…The environmental issues related to the installation and operation phases of such facilities have not, so far, been addressed comprehensively in the literature, [22]. It is identified 32 impacts from these phases, under the themes of land use intensity, human health and well-being, plant and animal life, geohydrological resources, and climate change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Appraisals assume that electricity generated by new solar power facilities will displace electricity from traditional generation technologies, which are not clean. Altogether in the scientific literature [22] it is find 22 of the considered 32 impacts to be beneficial. Of the remaining 10 impacts, 4 are neutral, and 6 require further research before they can be appraised.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In quantitative terms, largescale solar power plants occupy the same or less land per kWh than coal power plant life cycles. Removal of forests to make space for solar power causes CO 2 emissions as high as 36 gr CO 2 /kWh, which is a significant contribution to the life cycle CO 2 emissions of solar power, but is still low compared to CO 2 emissions from coal-based electricity that are about 1100 gr CO 2 /kWh, [22].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strategic Orientation to Solar Energy Productionand Long Term Financial Benefits

Stevović¹

2017

AFST

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The strategy for developing and improving the application of green, clean, renewable and gratis solar energy is a challenge for multidisciplinary teams of scientists. Exquisite examples of positive world practice of the largest solar power plants are presented in this paper, with all the characteristics, starting from the materials of photovoltaic panels and technical performance to the cost and financial benefits. The aim was to analyze the development of solar technologies in the function of defining further perspectives. The techno economic feasibility of the strategic orientation towards solar energy has been demonstrated in the model of the solar power plant, carried out by experiment, profitability calculation and multi-criteria analysis. The conclusion is that long-term financial and holistic benefits can be achieved by investing in solar power plants.

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“…Besides direct economic and environmental advantages, the use of solar energy produces other indirect environmental and social benefits, such as the stabilization of degraded land, the increasing of energy independence, new job opportunities, acceleration of remote rural areas electrification, and improved quality of life in developing countries [1]. The environmental issues related to the installation of solar power facilities have been comprehensively addressed in [2]: more than thirty environmental impacts falling in the fields of land use intensity, human health and wellbeing, plant and animal life, geo-hydrological resources, and climate change. In this context, the integration of solar energy into islanded micro-grids can play a key role both in decreasing the dependence on fossil fuels in energy intensive applications, for example in the desalination of plants [3], and to speed up access to electricity in developing countries [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Evolutionary-Based MPPT Algorithm for Photovoltaic Systems under Dynamic Partial Shading

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The increase of renewable energy usage in the last two decades, in particular photovoltaic (PV) systems, has opened up different solar plant configurations that need to operate and properly perform in terms of efficient power transfer with respect to all of the involved components, such as inverters, grid interface, storage, and other electrical loads. In such applications, the power characteristics of the plant modules all together represent the main components that are responsible for power extraction, depending on both external and internal factors. Conventional maximum power point tracking techniques may not have a proper conversion efficiency under particular external dynamic conditions. This paper proposes an evolutionary-based maximum power point tracking algorithm suitable to operate under dynamic partial shading conditions and compares its performance with classical maximum power point tracking methods in order to evaluate their conversion efficiency in partial shading scenarios with relevant and dynamic changes in the environmental conditions. Simulations taking into account the different dynamic shading conditions were carried out to prove the effectiveness and limitations of the proposed approach with respect to classical algorithms.

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Environmental impacts from the installation and operation of large-scale solar power plants

Cited by 360 publications

References 59 publications

Optimal site selection for sitting a solar park using multi-criteria decision analysis and geographical information systems

Optimal site selection for sitting a solar park using multi-criteria decision analysis and geographical information systems

Strategic Orientation to Solar Energy Productionand Long Term Financial Benefits

An Evolutionary-Based MPPT Algorithm for Photovoltaic Systems under Dynamic Partial Shading

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