According to ETH study, wind energy can also be environmentally friendly
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The expansion of wind energy in Europe would not necessarily come at the expense of beautiful landscapes, say Swiss researchers.
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According to a study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), electricity costs remain stable on average in Europe if wind turbines are kept away from picturesque areas.
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However, conflicts still exist at regional level, for example in the Alpine region, the study noted.
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The researchers used artificial intelligence to classify the beauty of the landscape in 29 European countries. The scientists trained a machine learning model with data from the UK. Over 200,000 landscape images rated by people served as the basis. The model learnt which features are perceived as beautiful.
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In the next step, the researchers linked this map with a wind energy model. Across Europe, the areas classified as particularly beautiful make up around 24% of the total area – almost 40% of which would in principle be suitable for wind energy, as the study published in the journal Energy and AI shows.
Overall, the potential for wind power would decrease by 43%, as the study shows.
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However, the researchers’ analysis showed that the production costs for wind power would remain almost unchanged on average in Europe, even if the most beautiful landscapes were excluded for the construction of wind turbines.
This is because locations with strong and constant winds, which are well developed, are often located outside the areas rated as particularly beautiful. According to the researchers, a larger proportion of electricity production could take place there.
Conflicting objectives in the Alps
In mountainous regions such as the Alps or Norway, however, the effects are significantly greater, as the researchers showed in the study. There, good wind locations often coincide with areas of high landscape value.
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According to ETH Zurich, this leads to a conflict of objectives. Where good locations are lost, the costs of generating electricity increase significantly, as the remaining locations are usually less efficient.
The study is a first attempt to predict the perceived landscape quality across Europe. The researchers conceded that the training data from the UK did not represent all European landscape types equally well.
However, the findings could already be utilised in the planning of other infrastructure projects such as alpine solar plants or grid expansion.
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Translated from German by AI/mga
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