Spatial consequences of adopting selected criteria for wind farm siting

Lack of definition of spatial capacity for wind farm development in Poland and associated lack of clearly defined wind farm siting criteria resulted in the impairment of spatial order at the country scale and contributed to numerous social conflicts. In the study an attempt was made to assess the potential for wind energy development in Poland against the background of regional differences in land availability for wind farm siting. The assessment was made using selected criteria derived from analyses of environmental receptors sensitive to wind turbine impacts. The key criteria included environmental considerations such as: municipal areas, countryside settlement pattern, areas of protected nature and ecological corridors, woodlands and areas of highest landscape values. Analyses were made with the use of GIS tools to delimitate areas which should be excluded from wind farm development. Two minimal distances from the settled (build up) area were adopted as safe for siting a power generating facility, i.e. one and two km. The value of index showing the proportion of land available for wind energy development versus total country area is low and attains 2.63% when one-kilometer wide buffer zone is kept between the farm and the settled area. Whereas for a two-kilometer wide buffer zone, the above value decreases to merely 0.1%, assuming that the remaining criteria for wind farm siting, such as those concerning nature and landscape, remain the same. The country’s space availability for wind farm development will be substantially limited if precise environmental criteria for wind farm siting, based on the evaluation of settlement patterns, location of natural resources and landscape values, are introduced into the spatial planning policy in Poland. While at the same time, this would help to secure appropriate quality of human life, human health as well as the highest natural and landscape values of the country.