Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 26 Oct 2023 |
Abstract
Sustainable Development Goals
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2023.
Research output: Working paper/Preprint › Preprint
}
TY - UNPB
T1 - Land Competition and its Impacts on Decarbonized Energy Systems
AU - Schlemminger, M.
AU - Lohr, C.
AU - Peterssen, F.
AU - Bredemeier, D.
AU - Niepelt, R.
AU - Bensmann, A.
AU - Hanke-Rauschenbach, R.
AU - Breitner, M.H.
AU - Brendel, R.
PY - 2023/10/26
Y1 - 2023/10/26
N2 - Land competition is one key challenge in light of a growing population and the land-intensive decarbonization of energy supply. We apply an energy system model to Germany as an exemplar of a densely-populated, developed nation with high energy demand per area to show how land competition affects the economics of land-intensive renewable energies. We find that scarcity of land for energy harvesting increases the marginal value of land up to sixteen times of current lease rates. Technologies with low energy yields per area such as bioenergy crops disappear from the cost-optimal energy system as land cost becomes the main determinant of a technology's viability. Marginal land cost is at least twice as high between 10 % and 0 % remaining green house gas emissions, although both states would be separated by less than five years according to current German law. A redistribution of land from bioenergy crops to photovoltaics (PV) reduces the total German energy system cost by 15.8 bn. €/a (13.5 %) compared to an energy system matching current political targets for utility-scale PV. The redistribution simultaneously creates space for additional land for onshore wind energy and food cultivation. For our case study, we consider 6 % of Germany's total land area to be sufficient land allocation, split into 4 % for PV and 2 % for onshore wind. As a very land-intensive technology, bioenergy crops offer only little or no value (depending on land availability) to the energy system and are likely to vanish during the next decades.
AB - Land competition is one key challenge in light of a growing population and the land-intensive decarbonization of energy supply. We apply an energy system model to Germany as an exemplar of a densely-populated, developed nation with high energy demand per area to show how land competition affects the economics of land-intensive renewable energies. We find that scarcity of land for energy harvesting increases the marginal value of land up to sixteen times of current lease rates. Technologies with low energy yields per area such as bioenergy crops disappear from the cost-optimal energy system as land cost becomes the main determinant of a technology's viability. Marginal land cost is at least twice as high between 10 % and 0 % remaining green house gas emissions, although both states would be separated by less than five years according to current German law. A redistribution of land from bioenergy crops to photovoltaics (PV) reduces the total German energy system cost by 15.8 bn. €/a (13.5 %) compared to an energy system matching current political targets for utility-scale PV. The redistribution simultaneously creates space for additional land for onshore wind energy and food cultivation. For our case study, we consider 6 % of Germany's total land area to be sufficient land allocation, split into 4 % for PV and 2 % for onshore wind. As a very land-intensive technology, bioenergy crops offer only little or no value (depending on land availability) to the energy system and are likely to vanish during the next decades.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85175517611&partnerID=MN8TOARS
U2 - 10.2139/ssrn.4614175
DO - 10.2139/ssrn.4614175
M3 - Preprint
BT - Land Competition and its Impacts on Decarbonized Energy Systems
ER -