GEG208: An Introduction to Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

A report looking into the possible implementation of a wind farm within our assigned grid square: OS Reference – SH44.

Image Sources: Top Left - reneweconomy.com.au; Top Right - www.keyposters.com; Bottom - www.kompulsa.com.

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INTRODUCTION

The supply and demand for renewable energy is constantly on the increase. The UK Government published an excellent and concise paper highlighting some of the statistics about the UK’s renewable energy sources. In 2011, 34,410 GWh of energy was produced from renewable sources, a 33% increase from 2010; this still only equates for ~4% of the UK’s total energy consumption (UK Gov’, 2012). The same paper shows that in 2011: electricity generated from onshore wind farms (10,372 GWh) doubled the 5,126 GWh produced by offshore sites. Will this statistic affect my choice of placement within my assigned grid? In Wales alone there are 211 proposed turbines with the capacity to generate 663.5Mw, enough to power 416,000 homes (Forestry Commission, 2013). Besides all these positive figures about renewable energy production, we are still heavily reliant on non-renewable sources such as natural gas. 2013 figures showed that our energy consumption from natural gas alone exceeded 553,000GWh (UK Gov’, 2013)Aside from the potential these wind farm proposals

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present, they still receive a mixed reception when it comes to public opinion; a critical point which will influence my own choice of where to place the wind farm (BBC, 2013). My assigned grid square has the Ordnance Survey Reference of SH44 (Ordnance Survey, 2013); it is located in the North-West corner of Wales and is just short of Anglesey. This grid reference is vital as it will allow us, combined with a particular website (to be mentioned in Methods), to obtain the wind speeds of this area: deducing if a wind farm implementation is possible. This report will withdraw and manipulate external data resources, and through the use of ESRI’s ArcGIS 10 and ArcScene software: this combination will allow us to determine whether or not the implementation of a wind farm is possible within the assigned grid.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The main aim of this report is to determine whether the implementation of a wind farm would be viable within the assigned. The objectives of this report are as follows:

Firstly, after being assigned this unique grid reference: I need to identify what limitations and constraints I would be facing when deciding where to place this wind farm. These constraints will include a variety of social and physical restrictions; such as locations of wildlife reserves, national parks, railways and towns etc.

Secondly, consideration of the physical characteristics is needed. These will include variables such as: the slope and height of the topography; the aspect of the land (which direction the hills are facing); the bedrock geology and the direction of the prevailing winds.

Thirdly, after combining the topographic characteristics along with the constraints, establishing which areas (if any) will be the most practical in placing a wind farm is next on the list.

Finally, with all the plausible wind farm sites isolated, the most appropriate site must be identified with reason and justification. This will include which plausible site has the easiest access and which site receives the highest concentration of wind.

METHODS

In order to realise the social and physical constraints posed within the assigned grid; a multitude of data sets was withdrawn from a variety of sources. Data usually comes in 1 of three forms: a polygon – displaying an area (national parks etc); a line – displaying a route/boarder (roads and rivers etc) and; points – displaying a singular entity (settlements and buildings etc) (Longley et al, 2005; Burrough and McDonnell, 1998). These sources include:

The Countryside Council for Wales – Includes data such as nature reserves and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Scientific Interest.

The British Geological Survey – Includes the geological bedrock underlay for the area.

Ordnance Survey – Includes data such as rivers, infrastructure and urban areas.

Once the appropriate pieces of data were displayed in GIS, identification of the constraints could begin. The limits of these constraints were obtained from various sources including: The Environmental Agency; The UK Government; and Gwynedd Council. For example a wind farm GEG208: Introduction to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Page 2

may not be within 500meters of a dwelling or 50meters from a river and so on. This displayed where you could and could not theoretically place a wind farm. These limits were then ‘buffered’ onto the constraints to give a precise outlook on the limitations faced. The data also went through a process called ‘clipping’, where the data set is ‘clipped’ and only applied to the grid area, and to nothing else: allowing for faster and smoother data processing. One constraint mentioned by a paper from the UK Government (2004) states that a wind farm may not be within a 32km radius of any civilian or military airstrip (for radar interference purposes). Unfortunately, Caernarfon Airport located at OS Grid Ref: SH4078 is within my area: thus theoretically making it impossible to consider wind farm placement; resulting in appreciation of this constraint, but ignoring it. With all the ‘buffered’ and ‘clipped’ constraints now present on the map tile, they were ‘dissolved’ (merged) together to create a single layer which clarifies at a quick glance: where you can and cannot build. In order to achieve precision with measurements, each map in this report is projected with the British Coordinate System (BCS).

The measuring tool in ArcGIS allows for the precise measurement of areas of polygons and distances between objects. Using this, the area of the overall grid square equates to 399.75km2, whilst the total area of the illustrated constraints (shown in Figure 1) is 315.76km2: leaving 83.99km2 for possible wind farm sites. ArcScene interlinked with ArcGIS extremely well with this project: ArcScene allows for 3D representation of the chosen surface via a Digital Elevation Model (DEM); which is incorporated into Figures 1 & 2. With application of ArcScene’s toolbox, the height, slope, aspect and viewshed were all derived from this DEM. Through careful a careful construction and designing process, Figures 1, 2 & 3 were all created through ArcScene and ArcGIS. The report will be based on the implementation of 1.3MW turbines, mentioned in the UK Governments 2004 paper: these can power supply ~700 homes and need a clear surrounding for approximate 1km diameter. This limitation has been accounted for in Figure 1.

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

Wind speed at 45m Above Ground Level (in m/s)

Area of Proposed Site

Site A Site B km2

5.4 5.7 6.5 6.5

5.9

5.8 Site A - 0.579

5.5 5.6 5.9 6.6

5.7

5.5 Site B - 0.143

5.8 5.8 5.8 6.4

5.7

5.4 Site C - 2.754

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Table 1. Shown is the wind speeds of Site A & B (Site C’s data unavailable) which will be a deciding factor in farm placement. Source: http://tools.decc.gov.uk.

Also, with the use of ArcGIS, the area of each site is also calculated.

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Displayed above is Figure 1. Under laying the constraints is the DEM for land height. The areas which are not constrained are relatively low lying, compared to the higher peaks residing in the constrained areas. The only areas (Site A & B) I believed to be fit for wind farm placement are between 7-10km inland, where Site A receives lower wind speeds than Site B (see Table 1). Although, considering accessibility, sites A & B are much easier to access with multiple A, B and minor roads close by. Due to the topographical restrictions, site A can only fit 2 wind farms, and site B 1, within their parameters. Is it even economically viable to install these turbines here? Windustry (2012) reports that 1.3MW turbines cost in the region of £1.2 million (excluding installation and maintenance costs); realistically, ~£2.4 million for ~1,400 homes doesn’t seem economically viable (especially in today’s financial climate!). Whichever site is chosen, the main overriding factor will almost certainly always be the financial costs.

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With the presented factors considered, I have chosen Site C. Figure 3 above shows the viewshed of the site; along with all the regions which I believe will incorporate some sort of human activity. For example, although there are no settlements that are in the viewshed and national park, hill walkers etc will be able to see the sight; raising the debate of sight pollution, as the Snowdon National Park and the surrounding areas are renowned for the spectacular views.

CONCLUSION

To conclude with this report, if a wind farm was to be implemented in my elected site, it would no doubt be faced with an intense debate and scrutiny. It was difficult to distinctively choose a site as there are numerous factors that influence even the smallest suggested wind farm. ESRI’s ArcGIS and ArcScene are excellent tools developing and producing maps; although with some difficult technicalities and coding errors, it can be quite frustrating. As the awareness of our non-renewable resource consumption grows, so will the demand for sustainable energy sources. Although wind farms are one of the ‘cleanest’ sources of renewable energy; they produce an insufficient yield in comparison to fossil fuels. With a suggested total capacity of +10,000MW, providing for ~6 million homes, there is huge potential for vast quantities of renewable energy (Renewable UK, 2013). I think the realistic outlook is that we will never be completely sustained on renewable energy, but there’s certainly no harm in trying!

REFERENCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. British Broadcasting Company (BBC). 2013. Wind farm attitudes in Wales ‘more complex’ than love or hate. [Online]. [Accessed on 17th November 2013]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-24776126

2. British Geological Survey. 2013. Onshore Digital Geological Map of Great Britain data. [Online]. [Accessed on 7th December 2013]. Available from: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/products/digitalmaps/dataInfo.html#_625

3. British Wind Energy Association. 2009. Wind Power. [Online]. [Accessed on 2nd December 2013]. Available from: http://www.uk-energy-saving.com/wind_power.html

4. Burrough,P.A. and McDonnell, R.A. 1998. Principles of Geographical Information Systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

5. Carter Jonas – The Property People. 2013. Wind Farm Constraints and Site Suitability. [Online]. [Accessed on 6th December 2013]. Available from: http://www.carterjonas.co.uk/en-GB/our-services/specialist/energy-and-marine/useful-information/wind-farm-constraints.aspx

6. Caernarfon Airport. 2013. Airport Information. [Online]. [Accessed on 9th December 2013]. Available from: http://www.caernarfonairport.com/index.htm

7. Countryside Council for Wales, Landscape & Wildlife. 2013. GIS Download – Welcome. [Online]. [Accessed on 2nd December 2013]. Available from: http://www.ccw.gov.uk/landscape--wildlife/protecting-our-landscape/gis-download---welcome.aspx

8. Forestry Commission. 2013. Wind Energy Program. [Online]. [Accessed on 29th November 2013]. Available from: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-8JTE8F

9. Key Posters. 2013. Wind Turbine at Sunset. [Online]. [Accessed on 1st December 2013]. Available from: http://www.keyposters.com/posters/windturbineatsunsetcomputergeneration.html

10.Kompulsa. 2013. Middelgrunden wind farm outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. [Online]. [Accessed on 1st December 2013]. Available from: http://www.kompulsa.com/energy-index/wind-power-2/

11.Longley, P.A. 2005. Geographical Information Systems and Science. 2nd Ed. England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.12.Marshak, S. 2008. Earth: Portrait of a Planet. 3rd Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.13.Moveable Type Scripts. 2012. Convert between Latitude/Longitude & OS National Grid Reference Points.

[Online]. [Accessed on 18th November 2013]. Available from: http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong-gridref.html

14.Ordnance Survey. 2013. Getamap. [Online]. [Accessed on 3rd December 2013]. Available from: http://www.getamap.ordnancesurveyleisure.co.uk/

15.Renewable Economy. 2012. Wind Turbines. [Online]. [Accessed on 1st December 2013]. Available from: http://reneweconomy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/wind-turbines17.jpg

16.Renewable UK – The Voice of Wind and Marine Energy. 2013. UK Wind Energy Database (UKWED). [Online]. [Accessed on 6th December 2013]. Available from: http://www.renewableuk.com/en/renewable-energy/wind-energy/uk-wind-energy-database/index.cfm

17.The Renewable Energy Centre. 2011. Wind Power. [Online]. [Accessed on 3rd December 2013]. Available from: http://www.therenewableenergycentre.co.uk/wind-power/

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18.UK Grid Reference Finder. 2008. UK Grid Reference Finder. [Online]. [Accessed on 18th November 2013]. Available from: http://gridreferencefinder.com/

19.United Kingdom Government, Department of Energy and Climate Change. 2004. Planning for Renewable Energy – A Companion Guide to PPS22.

20.United Kingdom Government, Department of Energy and Climate Change. 2004. Planning Policy Statement 22: Renewable Energy.

21.United Kingdom Government, Department of Energy and Climate Change. 2012. Renewable Energy in 2011. [Online]. [Accessed on 28th November 2013]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewable-energy-in-2011

22.United Kingdom Government, Department of Energy and Climate Change. 2013. Energy Trends Section 4: Gas. [Online]. [Accessed on 28th November 2013]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gas-section-4-energy-trends

23.United Kingdom Government, Department of Energy and Climate Change. 2013. Windspeed Database. [Online]. [Accessed on 18th November 2013]. Available from: http://tools.decc.gov.uk/en/windspeed/default.aspx

24.Windustry. 2012. How much do wind turbines cost?. [Online]. [Accessed on 25th November 2013]. Available from: http://www.windustry.org/resources/how-much-do-wind-turbines-cost

25.WiseGeek. 2013. What Are The Best Wind Farm Locations?. [Online]. [Accessed on 16th November 2013]. Available from: http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-the-best-wind-farm-locations.htm

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