How much can small-scale wind energy production contribute to energy supply in cities?: A case study of Berlin
2021 (English)In: Energies, E-ISSN 1996-1073, Vol. 14, no 17, article id 5523
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Sustainable development
Sustainable Development
Abstract [en]
In light of the global effort to limit the temperature rise, many cities have undertaken initiatives to become climate-neutral, making decentralized urban energy production more relevant. This paper addresses the potential of urban wind energy production with small wind turbines, using Berlin as an example. A complete framework from data selection to economic feasibility is constructed to enable the empirical assessment of wind energy for individual buildings and Berlin as a whole. Based on a detailed dataset of all buildings and hourly wind speed on a 1 km² grid, the results show that multiple turbines on suitable buildings can significantly contribute to households’ energy consumption but fall short of covering the full demand. For individual households, our economic evaluation strongly recommends the self-consumption of the produced electricity. The findings suggest that while the use of small wind turbines should be continuously encouraged, exploring other renewable resources or combination of wind and photovoltaic energy in the urban environment remains important.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2021. Vol. 14, no 17, article id 5523
Keywords [en]
Energy transition, Renewable energy, Urban wind energy, Wind potential assessment, Economic analysis, Energy utilization, Wind, Wind turbines, Economic evaluations, Economic feasibilities, Empirical assessment, Photovoltaic energy, Renewable resource, Small-scale wind energies, Urban environments, Wind energy production, Wind power
National Category
Economics Energy Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-55158DOI: 10.3390/en14175523ISI: 000694223000001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85114483648OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hj-55158DiVA, id: diva2:1614842
2021-11-272021-11-272023-08-28Bibliographically approved