Regional economic and environmental impacts of wind power developments: a case study of a German region
Publication date
2019
Authors
Jenniches, S.
Worrell, Ernst
Fumagalli, Elena
Editors
Advisors
Supervisors
Document Type
Article
Metadata
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Abstract
Wind power is an important technology in the transition towards a low carbon economy. This paper covers the regional impacts of wind power developments in a small German region. Wind power developments with a cumulative capacity of 63.1 MW which have been installed in 2017 in the Aachen region, generating 3901 GWh electricity from 2017 to 2037 lead to a regional value added of €50.8 million (or €805/kW). The avoided greenhouse gas emissions are 132,770 tCO2-equivalents in 2017 and the total economic impacts of value added, avoided greenhouse gases and air pollution ranging from €20.9 to €24.6 million (€332–389 per kW or €107–126 per MWh electricity generated) in 2017. From an environmental economic view, the generation of wind power is the most beneficial electricity generation technology in comparison to PV and lignite.
Keywords
Wind power, Regional economic impact, Regional economic impacts of renewable energy, Sustanable development, Environmental impact of renewable energy, Supply chain analysis, SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
Citation
Jenniches, S, Worrell, E & Fumagalli, E M 2019, 'Regional economic and environmental impacts of wind power developments : a case study of a German region', Energy Policy, vol. 132, pp. 499-514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.05.046