The 2040 governmental goal of 100 % renewable electricity in Sweden means that there will be a shift in electricity production and a phasing out of nuclear power. This nuclear power has to be replaced by some other source. Wind power is a viable alternative, thanks to its reliability and the abundance of wind in Sweden. However, wind power production requires a large amount of land and carries the risk of disrupting the landscape. Wind energy is therefore often difficult to develop, and when developed it is often in rural areas where it disturbs as few people as possible. This study presents an alternative to rural exploitation, it investigates whether it is possible to produce sufficient wind power to satisfy urban demand within 20 000 meters of the 20 largest cities in Sweden. Firstly, the criteria for areas where wind power can be developed were synthesised. Secondly a numerical model was used to simulate energy demand in TWh considering the future growth in demand and the phasing out of nuclear power. The demand for wind power was then translated into correlating area in km2. Finally, a GIS analysis was conducted to estimate the extent of area suitable for wind power development based on the criteria above and within a 20 000m perimeter from the 20 largest cities in Sweden. The analysis showed that only 35 % of the required area for wind power development fulfilled the criteria within the given perimeter. From the GIS analysis only 940.73 km2 was found to be suitable. From the numerical model, the results showed that for it to be sufficient, there would have to be at least 2687.1 km2 suitable land. The conclusion from this study is that in order to phase out the nuclear power, the majority of the wind power has to be located in the rural areas.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-166394 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Øvereng, Aurora |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för naturgeografi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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