Identification of environment and socio economic impact factors for wind resource land mapping using ArcGIS, WaSP and multi crit

Identification of environment and socio-economic impact factors for wind resource land mapping using ArcGIS, WaSP and Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) Sajan Antony Mathew, Joshua Amarnath, Sathyabama University, Chennai, India Abstract-The wind power potential in India estimated by Centre for Wind Energy Technology (CWET) at the macro level is around 48581 MW This is based on the assumption that 1% land is available for wind farm development and a more precise estimation of the wind potential land in India considering the wind resource, electrical grid infrastructure, physical, socioeconomic and environment factors would further the development in a planned and systematic manner This paper strives to identify impacts due to wind energy development regarding environment and socio-economic factors and its mitigation techniques.The identification of environment and socio-economic factors as one important input will assist in a larger study for the determination and quantification of wind resource potential land for wind energy projects into ranges and classes using ArcGIS, WaSP(Wind Analysis, Analysis and Application model) and Multi Criteria Decision making(MCDA) Keywords- Impact; Environment; Noise; Visual impact; Shadow flicker; bird hits; EMI Interference; socio-economic; I INTRODUCTION Wind turbine technology in India was demonstrated to be a viable solution for harvesting clean energy in the late 80’s through two projects supported by the Government of India and DANISH International Development Agency (DANIDA) in the states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu The wind resource mapping programme started in India in the year 1986 wherein the first meteorological station was commissioned The meteorological data is used for prospecting the wind potential in a large area ie 20 km x 20 km Wind potential is classified into various classes depending upon wind speed and turbulence levels of a potential site Due to growth in the wind energy sector over the last few years the Class sites (IEC classification) are slowly being consumed and the design of wind turbines is undergoing changes for optimizing extraction at lower wind potential sites Since wind potential land is the most important criteria for the development of wind energy, a careful and accurate assessment is of utmost importance to sustain the growth in the energy mix of the country Further the micro level assessment does take the key parameter of wind conditions into consideration, but often tend not to include environment and socio-economic parameters This is mainly due to the fact that Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for wind energy projects is not required as this activity is not covered in the Government of 978-1-4244-9182-7/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 457 India Environmental Impact Assessment notification of 1994 or the amended notification of 2006 A.Impact of wind energy on environment The energy generation from wind pursues a scheme for supporting the reduction of greenhouse gases which mitigates effects on climate change Environmental pollution due to the use of fossil fuels constitutes a threat to health, environment and sustainable economic growth The costs towards health, environment and societal caused by energy generation and conversion processes are not included for establishing energy prices Due to this factor the comparison of prices gets distorted which is often detrimental to decisions taken in favour of renewable energy Wind energy would not require any support and will be cost effective if the capital, operation and maintenance, fuel, health, environment, societal, security, hazardous waste management and decommissioning costs are weighted and compared on an equal footing The positive note is that wind energy does not emit any pollutants affecting health and environment and due to the growing concern of the environmental issues of all conventional fuels as compared to wind, responsible public sector and private sector companies are turning towards investment in renewables, especially wind This does not mean that wind energy does not have any impact on the environment even though it can be said that in comparison to the benefits derived from wind, the impacts are negligible The barometer of sustainability of wind energy shall not only be on its clean renewable identity but also in its capability to mitigate impacts Therefore the identification of possible impacts on the environment is important even though not many research studies are available as impact assessment of wind energy is relatively new area The impacts identified where studies are available are noise, visual impact, shadow flicker, bird hits, electromagnetic interference and effects on the ecosystems a.Noise The wind turbines of the 80’s were mostly around 250 kW rating and operating at around hub heights of 30m with rotor diameters of 30m with minor variants During this period, wind turbines were predominantly three-bladed, upwind, geared and stall regulated and some of these have undergone changes in the current context The impact of the technology transmuting wind energy into a reliable source is gaining impetus as the present day technology is churning out state of art wind turbines with improved extraction efficiency and cost effectiveness The current technology of wind turbines enable them to operate efficiently over a wide range of wind speeds, remain insulated from grid faults through power electronics and generate quality power This momentum has been mainly from the mega class variable speed pitch regulated wind turbines with full scale converters The variable speed concept also allowed the wind turbine to be connected to the grid at lower wind speeds with less noise and reduced stress levels on the components of the wind turbine In India, studies have been undertaken at wind farm sites for its impact in Maharastra and Tamilnadu by national and international agencies The sound pressure levels from wind turbines as reported by these studies [1] [2]are around 65- 110db(A) at around 80 to 100m from the wind turbine and to mitigate these effects it is suggested that the wind turbines should be sited at around kms from the nearest dwelling more than Hz[3] In India most of the wind farms are in remote locations away from densely populated areas and is not an area of concern However to mitigate the effects the flicker frequency could be limited to less than 3Hz and the wind farms sited in a manner that the shadows are not cast on the windows of any nearby buildings The buildings which are in the wind farm as a part of the project could be oriented in a manner so that the flicker is not visible inside the building through the windows and doors b Visual Impact The factors affecting the visual impact are diversity, order and focus of special areas in the landscape [1] The perception of a wind energy project visually depends largely on the aesthetic effects and the tangible or the intangible benefits it offers The wind farm project should merge along with a diverse landscape and with more diversity of vegetation, topography and water bodies, they are perceived better The order indicates aesthetics and not sense of chaos and clutter which again merges with the landscape The wind farm project should not distort or damage the existing areas in the landscape which are special and stand out because of their contrasting shape, color, or pattern and also may be of cultural importance Many windfarms in India are becoming centers of tourist attraction because of the visual impact the windfarm offers, mostly in aesthetic landscape of mountains, vegetation and water bodies The mitigation techniques for visual impact are generally micrositing and careful handling of the landscape during the project especially with construction of roads, buildings and after construction waste management The available micrositing techniques for the wind turbines has the possibility of spacing them adequately for optimizing the generation and not follow standard stringent spacing criteria laid down by regulating agencies irrespective of terrain conditions , roughness, obstacles and wind conditions However issues regarding local sensitivities, fair practices in land ownership and legal issues should be taken into account which, maybe coordinated and advised by a national agency for better command and control Figure Flicker on building d Bird Hits There has been concern by ornithologists regarding the behavior and mortality of birds in an around the wind farm installations but the data recorded on bird mortality as reported in some studies shows that the effects are insignificant as compared to the mortality rates due to vehicles, high rise structures like buildings, transmission towers etc However it is important to know the habitat of birds near the vicinity of wind farms and their flight plan to mitigate the effects on the behavior and mortality of birds e EMI Interference Studies have indicated the wind turbines may cause electromagnetic interference through three mechanisms namely near field effects, diffraction and scattering [4] The near field effects are due to the potential of the wind turbine to cause interference to the radio signals due to the electromagnetic fields emitted by the generator or due to switching components in the wind turbine controller The mitigation techniques involve EMI compliance to the International standards and proper micrositing of the wind farm in relation to the location of the transmitter and the receiver f Socio-economic impact Wind farm development has shown to be an indicator for sustainable development by improving the social well being by alleviation of poverty and generation of additional employment of households in remote villages in the country There is evidence that public acceptance increases with a sense of involvement in the wind farm project in their areas of domicile This is by involving them as a catalyst to create awareness of the benefits of the project, responding to their concerns and providing benefits to the community at large in terms of jobs, infrastructure like roads, schools, rural health centers and buildings c Shadow Flicker The issue of shadow flicker (Fig.1) is also an area of concern which causes annoyance when wind farms are located very close to dwellings The shadow flicker is caused by the interruption of sunlight by the rotating blades of the wind turbines The flicker has a frequency determined by the rotational speed of the wind turbine for eg if the turbine rotates at 40 rpm, then the flicker frequency is Hz and some studies have indicated that the flicker frequency should not be 458 Even though the primary health care and education are being handled by the state government, reinforcements by wind turbine companies fulfilling social responsibilities improves the pace of development The commercial exploitation of wind turbine technology was initiated in the late 80’s and some of the villages near to the big farms have had a facelift with new homes, personal vehicles etc These are the indicators of an increase in income and local employment of the villagers as cooks, security guards, gardeners, general labour and even in technical skilled and semi-skilled areas The sale of potential land for wind energy projects has also contributed to improving the economic status of the villagers However in some cases wind potential land which is normally cultivated is also given up for wind farm development by which a sustainable livelihood for the farmers is lost and to mitigate its impact, identification of cultivable land not to be used for wind farms is of utmost importance The parameters for socioeconomic impact are mainly identification of cultivable land and resettlement of human habitat due to wind farm development due to the thrust for green energy around the world, more and more companies are investing in wind energy and their economic sustainability will depend on wind resource land However wind energy to be a sustainable energy source has to mitigate the effects of various environmental and socioeconomic impacts whatever may be the level of impact The environment and socioeconomic parameters which have been identified along with the other factors such as wind resource, electrical grid infrastructure and physical shall be factored into for assessing the wind resource potential land which shall be more realistic than the current assessment techniques This can assist in the planning by Government/stakeholders for proposing the yearly wind farm capacity addition and for achieving the estimated potential in India REFERENCES [1] [2] II CONCLUSION [3] India has an ambitious plan for renewable energy, especially wind energy from the current levels of around 11800 MW to a target of the assessed potential of 48581 MW and for this wind potential land should be available Further [4] 459 Environmental Impact Report, Tata Power Wind Energy Financing facility, March 2007 Environmental Impact Report, Tata Power Wind Energy Financing facility, October 2009 Wind turbines, flicker and photosensitive epilepsy, Graham Harding,Pamela Harding and Arnold Wilkins,Epileseia,49(6):10951098, 2008 The EMC/EMF Intrusion Assessment of wind Generators, Vlatko Stoilkov, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and IT,Karpos II bb,Skopje,Macedonia,SAEM 2008 ... effects of various environmental and socioeconomic impacts whatever may be the level of impact The environment and socioeconomic parameters which have been identified along with the other factors. .. importance The parameters for socioeconomic impact are mainly identification of cultivable land and resettlement of human habitat due to wind farm development due to the thrust for green energy around... windfarm offers, mostly in aesthetic landscape of mountains, vegetation and water bodies The mitigation techniques for visual impact are generally micrositing and careful handling of the landscape