Abstract
The energy transition is a challenge that affects regions on various scales. This paper presents the economic chances of deploying the renewable energy technology solar photovoltaic in a German region. Total regional economic effects of 280 PV plants, installed in 2014 with a cumulative capacity of 3.7 MW, lead to a regional value added of approximately €3.8 million (€1019/kW installed, €57/MWh electricity generated) and employment effects of 42 full-time person years (11 person years/MW installed), occurring from 2014 to 2034. The avoided greenhouse gas emissions of these plants are 2365 tons CO2 equivalents per year (0.7 kgCO2-eq/kWh generated) and the avoided air pollution is 0.97 tSO2 per year, 1.48 tNOx per year, and 0.07 t NMVOCs per year in 2014. The total economic effects of regional value added, avoided CO2 emissions, and avoided air pollution per year in 2014 range from €0.8 million - €1 million or (€208–€277 per kW installed, €231–€307 per MWh electricity generated).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 11-24 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Energy for Sustainable Development |
| Volume | 48 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Funding
The outcomes presented in this paper have been assessed in the render (Regional Dialogue Energy Transition) project that is part of the FONA (Research for Sustainable Development) programme funded by the of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) ( FKZ 033L116G ). The author gratefully acknowledges funding from the FONA programme of the (BMBF). I am also grateful to Tobias Kelm for the permission to reproduce Table 2 , originally illustrated in Kelm (2015) (cf. References).
Keywords
- Air pollutants
- Economic impact assessment
- Greenhouse gas emissions
- Regional economic impact assessment
- Renewable energies
- Solar PV
