Sustainable photovoltaic power generation spatial planning through ecosystem service valuation: A case study of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau

Furong Lv and Haiping Tang

Renewable Energy, 2024, vol. 222, issue C

Abstract: Climate change exerts profound negative effects on the Earth's natural and human systems. Transitioning to large-scale renewable energy (RE) production, especially solar photovoltaic (PV) power, can significantly mitigate carbon emissions. However, the fragility and sensitivity of the ecosystem and geo-environment disparity of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) could potentially constrain solar PV power generation. In this study, we evaluated both the ecosystem service values (ESV) and the land suitability for PV power generation within the QTP. Through an integrated analysis, a comprehensive planning map highlighting areas suitable for PV power development was constructed. The results show that the suitable area is 7.62 × 105 km2, accounting for 29.48 % of the QTP. The high-priority development area is mainly concentrated in the southwestern and north-central of the QTP, covering a total area of 3.43 × 105 km2, with obvious advantages in PV power generation potential (610.09 kwh/m2). Notably, a disparity exists between the locations of current PV power installations and our planning pattern. Additionally, PV power generation in the whole planning region can reduce CO2 emissions by 2.15 × 1011 tons. This study provides a sustainable framework for the comprehensive spatial planning of PV power plants, aiming to minimize conflicts between PV power generation and ecosystem services.

Keywords: Photovoltaic power generation; Ecosystem services values; Land suitability; Four quadrants model; Comprehensive planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148123017913
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:222:y:2024:i:c:s0960148123017913

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2023.119876

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().