Ordinances setting back America’s wind power potential | Designing cities for dystopia | Building with geofoam blocks
infrastruttura
no. 31
America's wind and solar power potential is being held back by local red tape.
Recent research from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory published in the journal Nature Energy says “setback” ordinances could ultimately reduce America’s wind power potential by 87% and solar power potential by 38%. (Setback ordinances limit new construction within a certain distance of roads, buildings, or other existing infrastructure, and have a greater impact on wind power installations.)
As of 2018, there were 286 existing municipal- and/or county-level ordinances with the potential to impact wind power projects. As of 2022, that number had ballooned to 1853 - with an additional 839 that would also apply to solar projects. Together NREL believes this could translate to a 42% reduction in total potential renewable power across the country, from 161 to 93 terawatts (one terawatt = one million watts). But without any setback ordinances the study predicts that the US could theoretically build 147 terawatts of solar power and 14 terawatts of wind power.
On the one hand, the fact that so many regulations have popped up in recent years could be a good sign (in the sense that America's renewable power capacity is increasing). Or they could in fact reduce overall capacity. Either way the point of NREL's research is to help local governments make better, data-driven decisions when adopting setback ordinances in the future. For example, there could be good reasons why a particular setback ordinance makes sense in a given location (e.g. to protect natural resources or preserve site access for a utility company).