Spatial modelling of sustainable wind power development
Abstract: Measures to mitigate climate change has never been a more pressing matter thanit is today and the global debate over energy security, environmental decline andlimited resources is heated, which motivates decision makers and leaders to searchfor alternative energy sources, renewable sources. The Swedish government has seta goal to make its entire domestic electricity production 100 % renewable and phaseout energy production based on fossil fuels entirely by year 2040, where wind powerwill contribute largely to that goal. This study aimed to generally analyse where itwas suitable and not suitable to establish wind turbines with respect to ecological,social and economical values to achieve sustainable development.To do this, a multi-criteria analysis was conducted based on the analytical hierarchyprocess method with the extension of combining it with fuzzy triangular numbersand then comparing the two methods. Ecological values were set as protected areasand not suitable for wind turbine placement. Relevance of social and economicalvalues in relation to each other were differentiated by asking five experts in the fieldof wind power as renewable energy to perform a pairwise comparison between eightdifferent factors. This resulted in relative weights illustrating the importance ofeach factor. These weights were then brought into a GIS environment where theywere modelled for suitability along with areas subjected to formal protection andother land use acting as constraints in Ragunda municipality and Västernorrlandcounty. Different scenarios were modelled that did or did not include areas forreindeer husbandry as a constraint. The final suitability maps were then comparedto existing wind turbines as well as areas of national interest for wind power inSweden.Results showed that good wind conditions was the most prominent factor to consider when siting wind turbines. No significant difference was observed when fuzzyanalytical hierarchy process was used instead of the classic analytical hierarchy process when modelling suitable wind turbine placement in a GIS environment. Ananalytical methodology combined with multi-criteria analysis applied in this studyshow that potential suitable areas that has not yet been exploited by wind powerexists both in Ragunda and Västernorrland that takes into account ecological, socialand economic criteria to support sustainable development.
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