The transmission ramifications of social and environmental siting considerations on wind energy deployment

Bennett, Jeffrey A.; Ogland-Hand, Jonathan D.; Middleton, Erin J.; Eidbo, Jessi B.; Prorok, Matt; Ross, Brian D.; Yaw, Sean; Middleton, Richard S.

doi:10.3389/fenrg.2022.1040957

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 24 publications

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“…Wind turbines are often built in areas where power lines from the turbines can be easily connected to the transmission grid (Bennett et al. 2023 ), often regardless of whether ecologically sensitive habitats are affected. However, biodiversity criteria should be as important as infrastructure criteria in the siting of wind turbines.…”

Section: Emerging Challenges To Reconcile Bat Conservation With Wind ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward solving the global green–green dilemma between wind energy production and bat conservation

Voigt,

Bernard,

Huang

et al. 2024

BioScience

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Wind energy production is growing rapidly worldwide in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, wind energy production is not environmentally neutral. Negative impacts on volant animals, such as bats, include fatalities at turbines and habitat loss due to land-use change and displacement. Siting turbines away from ecologically sensitive areas and implementing measures to reduce fatalities are critical to protecting bat populations. Restricting turbine operations during periods of high bat activity is the most effective form of mitigation currently available to reduce fatalities. Compensating for habitat loss and offsetting mortality are not often practiced, because meaningful offsets are lacking. Legal frameworks to prevent or mitigate the negative impacts of wind energy on bats are absent in most countries, especially in emerging markets. Therefore, governments and lending institutions are key in reconciling wind energy production with biodiversity goals by requiring sufficient environmental standards for wind energy projects.

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Section: Emerging Challenges To Reconcile Bat Conservation With Wind ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward solving the global green–green dilemma between wind energy production and bat conservation

Voigt,

Bernard,

Huang

et al. 2024

BioScience

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Nationwide cost and capacity estimates for sedimentary basin geothermal power and implications for geologic CO2 storage

Cairncross,

Ogland-Hand,

Adams

et al. 2024

Front. Energy Res.

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Introduction: Sedimentary basins are naturally porous and permeable subsurface formations that underlie approximately half of the United States. In addition to being targets for geologic CO2 storage, these resources could supply geothermal power: sedimentary basin geothermal heat can be extracted with water or CO2 and used to generate electricity. The geothermal power potential of these basins and the accompanying implication for geologic CO2 storage are, however, understudied.Methods: Here, we use the Sequestration of CO2 Tool (SCO2TPRO) and the generalizable GEOthermal techno-economic simulator (genGEO) to address this gap by a) estimating the cost and capacity of sedimentary basin geothermal power plants across the United States and b) comparing those results to nationwide CO2 sequestration cost and storage potential estimates.Results and discussion: We find that across the United States, using CO2 as a geothermal heat extraction fluid reduces the cost of sedimentary basin power compared to using water, and some of the lowest cost capacity occurs in locations not typically considered for their geothermal resources (e.g., Louisiana, South Dakota). Additionally, using CO2 effectively doubles the sedimentary basin geothermal resource base, equating to hundreds of gigawatts of new capacity, by enabling electricity generation in geologies that are otherwise (with water) too impermeable, too thin, too cold, or not deep enough. We find there is competition for the best sedimentary basin resources between water- and CO2-based power, but no overlap between the lowest-cost resources for CO2 storage and CO2-based power. In this way, our results suggest that deploying CO2-based power may increase the cost of water based systems (by using the best resources) and the cost of CO2 storage (by storing CO2 in locations that otherwise may not be targeted). As such, our findings demonstrate that determining the best role for sedimentary basins within the energy transition may require balancing tradeoffs between competing priorities.

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The transmission ramifications of social and environmental siting considerations on wind energy deployment

Cited by 2 publications

References 24 publications

Toward solving the global green–green dilemma between wind energy production and bat conservation

Toward solving the global green–green dilemma between wind energy production and bat conservation

Nationwide cost and capacity estimates for sedimentary basin geothermal power and implications for geologic CO2 storage

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