Assessing the regional economic impacts of renewable energy sources: A literature review

Abstract

The transition of the global energy system is one of the main trends that offers opportunities as well as challenges for the economy. Most literature evaluates the impact of that transition at a national level. That view is broadened towards a regional scale. Due to the lower energy density of many renewable energy sources, renewable energy generation will be more decentralised, leading to potentially significant changes in the regional economy when transitioning to a renewable energy system. In this paper the current literature and methods of assessing regional economic impacts of a transition to renewable energy generation is reviewed. The findings suggest an overall need to clearly define the topics, such as technologies, that are assessed and the evaluated time period. A guideline for a regional impact assessment is provided, focusing on the suitability of applied impact assessment methods (employment ratios, supply chain analyses, input-output models, and computable general equilibrium models).