On the socio-technical potential for onshore wind in Europe: A response to Enevoldsen et al. (2019), Energy Policy, 132, 1092-1100
McKenna R, Ryberg DS, Staffell I, Hahmann AN, Schmidt J, Heinrichs H, Höltinger S, Lilliestam J, Pfenninger S, Robinius M, Stolten D, Tröndle T, Wehrle S, Weinand JM (2020)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2020
Journal
Book Volume: 145
Article Number: 111693
DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111693
Abstract
A recent article in this journal claimed to assess the socio-technical potential for onshore wind energy in Europe. We find the article to be severely flawed and raise concerns in five general areas. Firstly, the term socio-technical is not precisely defined, and is used by the authors to refer to a potential that others term as merely technical. Secondly, the study fails to account for over a decade of research in wind energy resource assessments. Thirdly, there are multiple issues with the use of input data and, because the study is opaque about many details, the effect of these errors cannot be reproduced. Fourthly, the method assumes a very high wind turbine capacity density of 10.73 MW/km2 across 40% of the land area in Europe with a generic 30% capacity factor. Fifthly, the authors find an implausibly high onshore wind potential, with 120% more capacity and 70% more generation than the highest results given elsewhere in the literature. Overall, we conclude that new research at higher spatial resolutions can make a valuable contribution to wind resource potential assessments. However, due to the missing literature review, the lack of transparency and the overly simplistic methodology, Enevoldsen et al. (2019) potentially mislead fellow scientists, policy makers and the general public.
Authors with CRIS profile
Additional Organisation(s)
Involved external institutions
Technical University of Denmark / Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU)
Denmark (DK)
Forschungszentrum Jülich / Research Centre Jülich (FZJ)
Germany (DE)
Imperial College London / The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
United Kingdom (GB)
Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (BOKU) / University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
Austria (AT)
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
Switzerland (CH)
Universität Potsdam
Germany (DE)
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Germany (DE)
Denmark (DK)
Forschungszentrum Jülich / Research Centre Jülich (FZJ)
Germany (DE)
Imperial College London / The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
United Kingdom (GB)
Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (BOKU) / University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
Austria (AT)
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
Switzerland (CH)
Universität Potsdam
Germany (DE)
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Germany (DE)
How to cite
APA:
McKenna, R., Ryberg, D.S., Staffell, I., Hahmann, A.N., Schmidt, J., Heinrichs, H.,... Weinand, J.M. (2020). On the socio-technical potential for onshore wind in Europe: A response to Enevoldsen et al. (2019), Energy Policy, 132, 1092-1100. Energy Policy, 145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111693
MLA:
McKenna, R., et al. "On the socio-technical potential for onshore wind in Europe: A response to Enevoldsen et al. (2019), Energy Policy, 132, 1092-1100." Energy Policy 145 (2020).
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