Wind power plant site suitability in South-West UK
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly | Devon | Dorset and Somerset - which region has the highest potential?
Site suitability analysis is crucial in identifying the most appropriate locations for wind energy projects, ensuring optimal use of resources and minimizing environmental impact.
In order to complete the assessment and compare the regions, exclusion indicators will be chosen that prevent the development in unsuitable areas like national parks or near critical habitats, safeguarding key ecological and cultural values. Weighted indicators, on the other hand, will help to assess varying degrees of suitability based on factors like wind speed and land use, allowing for a nuanced understanding of each site's potential.
Three NUTS-1 regions were selected for analysis.
- Dorset and Somerset: Ideal for renewable energy projects due to rural landscapes and wind patterns. Supports UK's commitment to sustainable energy
- Cornwall and Isles of Scilly: High tourism potential; site analysis vital for sustainable development and conservation, balancing economic growth and environmental preservation.
- Devon: Agricultural land use optimization; suitability analysis crucial for balancing food production and conservation efforts in this biodiverse region
Plan for conducting site suitability analysis
Step 1
Gather indicators which will determine site suitability = ~20% of work
Step 2
Gather data = ~30% of work
Step 3
Clean and optimise data = ~ 15% of work
Step 4
Perform analysis in Arcgis Pro = ~25% work
Step 5
Calculate results and publish findings = 10% of work
Step 1 - gather indicators which will determine site suitability
Two types of indicators:
1) Exclusion indicators - in these areas Wind power plants will not be built 2) Weighted indicators - will show which areas are the most and least suitable
Weighted: | Exclusion (if): |
|---|---|
Wind speed > 8m/s | It is national park |
Areas of outstanding beauty | Slope > 10% |
Land use type | Closer than 200m to river priority habitats |
Further than 30km to 400 kV transmission line |
Used indicators for analysis
Step 2 - gather data
28 datasets used/tested
Few dozen websites were visited in order to find the required data
Final sources for indicators: globalwindatlas.info eurostat.eu environment.data.gov.uk eidc.ceh.ac.uk naturalengland-defra.com osdatahub.os.uk nationalgrid.com
Step 3 - Clean and optimise selected indicators
Wind Speed (weighted)
Tools used:
- Extract by attributes (> 8)
- Extract by mask - crop to required area
- Symbology - classify (5 categories)
- Change coloring
Areas of outstanding beauty (weighted)
Tools used:
- Add field - added 0 so there’s integer polygon to raster
- Polygon to Raster - so weighted overlay works
- Is null - so two variables will be created, 1 - for beautiful, 0 - regular
- Extract by mask - crop to required areaAdd field (added 0 so there’s integer polygon to raster)
Areas of outstanding beauty (weighted)
Steps taken:
- Upload layer file - so names would show up
- Lookup documentation for feature names and coding
- Change colouring to 3 categories
National parks (exclusion) 1. Clip - crops to required area
Areas in purple will be excluded from the final map
Slope > 10% (exclusion) 1. Line to TIN - Create TIN 2. TIN to Raster - Transform to raster 3. Slope - Creates surface slope in % 4. Extract only >10% 5. Clip - crops to required area
From left to right: original line dataset; TIN; Slope in %; More than 10% incline. Areas in pink will be excluded from the final map
Priority river habitat with buffer zone (exclusion) 1. Buffer - 200 m 2. Clip - crops to required area
Areas in grey will be excluded from the final map
Transmission lines (exclusion) 1. Buffer - 30km 2. Clip - crops to required area
Zones outside blue area will be excluded from the final map - too far from the main grid.
4. Perform analysis
In order to create a site suitability based on three weighted variables, Weighted Overlay tool was used.
Firstly, the weights for each variable had to be weighted on it's importance:
Afterwards, each indicator had to be scored of it's class. The higher the score - the better suitability. R means that those zones will be excluded.
Combining weighted variables
Excluding:
- National parks
Excluding:
- National parks
- Slope > 10 %
Excluding:
- National parks
- Slope > 10 %
- 200 meters around priority river habitats
Excluding:
- National parks
- Slope > 10 %
- 200 meters around priority river habitats
- Areas further than 30km to 400 kv transmission line
Step 5 - calculate results and publish findings
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly has the highest % of land suitable for wind power development.
Analysis shows that highly suitable areas are quite rare, ranging from 1% to 4% of the total land cover.
...
Why wind power is so popular...?
... because it has a lot of fans!
