Using GIS to Investigate the Feasibility of Siting Renewable Wind Energy Generating Plant at Ascog Farm, Isle of Bute

Posted: August 26th, 2021

Using GIS to Investigate the Feasibility of Siting Renewable Wind Energy Generating Plant at Ascog Farm, Isle of Bute

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Using GIS to Investigate the Feasibility of Siting Renewable Wind Energy Generating Plant at Ascog Farm, Isle of Bute

Selecting the most suitable area for constructing a wind farm is often a complex process that requires one to have a careful combination of several analytical criteria. Globally, many wind farms arrive at such a decision by mainly relying on economic benefits while ignoring the adverse effects that the environment may face due to the establishment of the project (Information Resource Management Association, 2016). A resolution of conflicting factors for both technical and economic mutual benefit is required to select an optimal location for a wind power farm. It encompasses a clear assessment of the existing social and ecological limitations besides listening to the opinions of the public about the project. As such, spatial planners encounter challenges, as they have to respond to various questions that surround the project, they intend to establish, which should both be economically feasible while reducing the environmental risks and the interests of stakeholders at the same time(Cascales et al., 2015). Therefore, this is only achievable if appropriate rules and guidelines are established to help in the evaluation of various economic, social criteria, and environmental constraints.  

Based on the above background, a new model to map and identify appropriate locations for siting the feasibility for new wind energy generating plant is examined in the context of this paper. The model uses the Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing criteria. The GIS comes handy in helping the study of the geographical features of the area, which would be utilized in planning the wind farm project. The focus is on Ascog Farm, Isle of Bute, Scotland. The area is preferred because of the strategic position characterized by quiet neighboring. Besides, it does not have a unique landscape or environmental designations that would require special attention. Thus, the appropriate area for the location of the wind energy plant.

Methods and Study Area

Materials and Software

For the selection of the site, the study utilized the available spatial data from the Institute of Statistics and Cartography of Bute and Environmental Information Network of Bute. These bodies are the custodians of environmental and sociodemographic information in the region. The study relied on ArcGIS Pro software, which was critical in studying the area to ascertain its suitability for the project. The software uses the Spatial Analysis extension and Model Builder tool to enhance the management of extensive mathematical operations that are required to find the appropriate geographical location, which complies with the desired criteria(Cascales et al., 2015). The map resolution was 100 m². The European Terrestrial Reference System 1989 (ETRS89) legal framework was relied upon in determining the coordinate system.

Methodology

In order to ascertain the appropriate areas for the establishment of the wind power plant in Ascog Farm, the location model, which combines the GIS and Remote Sensing techniques, was used. The methods are described in the following two stages.

Stage 1: Identifying the incompatible areas

The stage involved determining the incompatibility criteria and the definition of associated restrictions. Notably, since every case has unique legal criteria and restriction framework, two main scenarios were used. The first scenario assessed the restrictions that have been established by the existing legal framework, while the second scenario applied the restrictive conditions that are provided in the literature.

Stage 2: Assessing the compatible areas

Here, the definition of potential factors based on the relative weights that experts had assigned. Saaty’s Hierarchical Analytical model was used to determine the respective weights associated with each factor, thus reducing inconsistency.

Stage 3: Determining the most suitable site for the plant

            The stage involved combining the suitability and compatibility results to help establish the appropriate area that that is the most appropriate for establishing the wind energy plants.

Study Area

The area of study is the Ascog Farm. Ascog Farm is located 300 meters from Ascog shore on Isle of Bute in Scotland, with an area of about 28,000 acres and a population of over 6,300 people. Figure 1 below is the location map of the farm. The normal economic activities in the area are farming and tourism, which formssignificant industries in the area(Information Resource Management Association, 2016). The island has various attractive sceneries include architectural and other heritage areas, to attract tourism activities.

Figure 1: Location of Ascog Farm on the Isle of Bute, Scotland

Results

Incompatible and compatible Areas

For Scenario 1, it was established that about 47% cover of the region is the incompatible areas, while in the second scenario, the whole area was considered incompatible. This aspect is attributed to restrictions because of the existence of rivers, protected spaces such as forest covers, lagoons as well as public protection measures. For example, about 95% of the island territory is within a range of 3.5 km of the forest cover, population, or within the lagoon.The following figures were obtained during the assessment of the farm suitability;

Figure 2: Location of Neighbouring Houses

Figure 3: Ascog Farm Boundary

Figure 4: Location of Electricity Poles

Figure 5: Ascog Farm Boundary

Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5 are the GIS and Remote Sensing mapping results of the Ascog farm to site-appropriate location for the wind energy generating plan in Ascog farm. The focus was placed on the location of neighboring houses, electricity poles, and other physical facilities in the area.

 According to existing literature,the location of neighboring houses and populations was identified as the most restrictive criterion. However, distance applied in the first scenario is less restrictive; that is, between 100 km to 120 km. Figure 6 and 7 below is a summary of scenario 1 and 2 as established in the assessment of the area.

Figure 6: Scenario 1

Figure 7: Scenario 2

Figures 6 and 7 are the results of the assessment of the area based on the two scenarios. The first reveals that there are feasible for the project, while the second scenario displays a complete incompatibility in the area. Figure 4 below is a summary of feasible and unfeasible areas in scenario 1 the region.

Figure 8: Incompatible and Compatible Areas for Scenario 1

Since scenario 2 has no compatible areas, figure 8 displays the assessment of scenario 1 to ascertain the various areas that feature on the region’s landscape. According to figure 4, feasible areas as mapped represent the areas that are compatible with the establishment of the wind energy plant on the farm. Scenario 1 indicates that about 53% of the land cover is suitable based on the existing wind resources. This is unlike the southern part that reveals about 13% only as of the feasible land cover for the establishment of the plant.  Hence, in case of further studies, the northern part of the Ascog farm should be given significant attention.

After the definition of the restrictions and criteria, the areas were calculated and spatially represented based on the GIS means. A value of zero (0) was assigned for incompatible areas, while one (1) was used to represent compatible areas. The cartographies of the results were combined thus enabling the definition of both compatible and incompatible areas for the two scenarios.

Discussion

In the past few years, there has been a growing need for intensive research in locating optimum sites for constructing wind energy plants in Scotland. The research has focused on ensuring that such projects comply with European guidelines as significant efforts are put to increase reliance on such sources of energy(Lillesand, Kiefer & Chipman, 2015). As a result, there are comprehensive political definitions with varied targets that occasionally are not backed by critical evaluation of the real potential of the region.

In most cases, restrictions or compatibility criteria are not defined following the legal frameworks specific tothe given region. Accordingly, several studies have failed to either clarify or establish their incompatibility or compatibility criteria. In other cases, studies adopt the existing criteria already established by other researchers within the context of other regions, although this has the potential to making erroneous conclusions(Lillesand, Kiefer & Chipman, 2015; Rozenstein & Karnieli, 2011). The reason is that thresholds and criteria should be consistent with the features of the target region. Therefore, before applying criteria and threshold from other regions, extreme care should be applied apparently by involving professionals and specialists that are in connection with the ground.

In this study, alternatives were examined through scenario 1 and 2. The first scenario applied the existing restrictions within the Scotland region, while the second scenario relied on the most strict suitability criteria based on existing literature. Scenario 1 comes handy since it allowed the evaluation of existing scenarios. It includes data analysis of some of the existing wind turbines in the area operating about 90 meters from water bodies or forest cover areas. According to Daim (2015), it is not advisable to establish the plant in areas having an average wind speed below 8 meters per second. Thereby, scenario 2 indicates that there is no suitable area within the farm where wind energy plant can be established. However, the results presented by scenario 1 paints a different picture. The results indicate that about 290 wind turbines that were initially operating within the area are working where wind speed is about 6.5 meters per second. Since the Ascog farm area has wind speed higher than this, it implies that the area is suitable to host a wind energy plant. However, further feasibility assessment should be done by explicitly focusing on the local level issues such as social acceptance and the far-reaching impacts of the plant on the environment. More so, the results indicate that most suitable areas on the farm lie in the northern parts while southern is largely unfeasible. The wind resources within the northern area are sufficient to accommodate over 350 turbines spread across the area based on the data acquired from the farm. Hence, the results exhibit that GIS and Remote Sensing can be a critical tool in understanding and assessing suitable sites for establishing wind energy generating plant.

Conclusion

The study focused on investigating the feasibility of establishing a wind energy plant in Ascog Farm on the Isle of Bute. The assessment employed the use of GIS and Remote Sensing technology to map and collect information about the farm that was later analyzed for achieving the objectives of the study. The results were developed through two scenarios, that is, scenarios 1 and 2 that relied on two separate criteria and threshold. According to scenario 1, the significant findings describe most parts of the farm as feasible to host the plan. This is attributed to the existing literature within the Scotland region approves the area as most suitable for the project. In another view, scenario 2 stated that most parts of the area are incompatible, implying that it is not feasible to have the project established on the farm. However, this scenario is based on restriction criteria and threshold that have been developed in other legal frameworks not specific to Scotland region. Therefore, it is worth concluding that according to the investigation, the area is suitable for establishing the plant but further studies require to be made to understand its social and environmental impacts.

References

Cascales, M., Lozano, J., Arredondo, A. & Corona, C. (2015). Soft computing applications for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Hershey, Pennsylvania (701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey, Pa., 17033, USA: IGI Global.

Daim, T. (2015). Policies and programs for sustainable energy innovations: renewable energy and energy efficiency. Cham: Springer.

Information Resource Management Association. (2016). Geospatial research: concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. Hershey, Pennsylvania (701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey, PA 17033, USA: IGI Global.

Lillesand, T.M., Kiefer, R.W., & Chipman, J.W. (2015). Remote sensing and image interpretation (6^th Edition). John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester.

Rozenstein, O., & Karnieli, A. (2011). Comparison of methods for land-use classification incorporating remote sensing and GIS inputs. Applied Geography, 31 (2), 533-544.