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

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 1 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

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 2 kms from the nearest

dwelling

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

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 2 Hz and some

studies have indicated that the flicker frequency should not be

more than 3 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

Figure 1 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

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

II CONCLUSION 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

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 socio-economic 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] Environmental Impact Report, Tata Power Wind Energy Financing facility, March 2007

[2] Environmental Impact Report, Tata Power Wind Energy Financing facility, October 2009

[3] Wind turbines, flicker and photosensitive epilepsy, Graham Harding,Pamela Harding and Arnold

Wilkins,Epileseia,49(6):1095-1098, 2008

[4] The EMC/EMF Intrusion Assessment of wind Generators, Vlatko Stoilkov, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and IT,Karpos II bb,Skopje,Macedonia,SAEM 2008