The installation and operation of PV plants, recently promoted in some European countries by new sell-back tariffs, is a relevant transformation of the territory for various reasons (land use, visual impact on the landscape, glare, etc). Besides, concerns of local communities and governments about the environmental, territorial an d landscape impacts of this technology are increasing rapidly. Consequently, the studies concerning the procedures for assessing the territorial and landscape impacts of this type of systems have recently seen a remarkable development. At the Italian level, the guidelines for the authorization of renewable energy plants (DM 10 settembre 2010) contains some new criteria for the landscape integration of PV plants. If an extensive scientific literature is available in other cases (e.g. wind turbines), there are few studies dealing with the visual impact of photovoltaic plants. Given this picture, in this work the activity and studies conducted by the authors regarding the territorial impacts of photovoltaic plant are presented. In particular, the assessment of the risk of glare by reflection of direct sunlight from the surfaces of photovoltaic modules and the visual impact analysis based on a quantitative indicators are analyzed and presented. The use of vegetation as a green screen is also discussed and applied. From the results, it can be derived that such procedures can be effectively used provided that a regulatory framework is set by the local authority that carries out the authorization procedures. The results of this research may also contribute to the improvement of the know-how that is required to carry out the landscape integration report (Relazione paesaggistica D.P.C.M. 12.12.2005) that is required by the local authorities during the authorization procedures of such plants. Finally, a discussion on how this procedure may be used and integrated into the administrative requirements of large and small scale PV plants developments is carried out.
Visual impact, landscape and renewable energy plants: the case of PV
FABRIZIO, Enrico;GARNERO, Gabriele
2012-01-01
Abstract
The installation and operation of PV plants, recently promoted in some European countries by new sell-back tariffs, is a relevant transformation of the territory for various reasons (land use, visual impact on the landscape, glare, etc). Besides, concerns of local communities and governments about the environmental, territorial an d landscape impacts of this technology are increasing rapidly. Consequently, the studies concerning the procedures for assessing the territorial and landscape impacts of this type of systems have recently seen a remarkable development. At the Italian level, the guidelines for the authorization of renewable energy plants (DM 10 settembre 2010) contains some new criteria for the landscape integration of PV plants. If an extensive scientific literature is available in other cases (e.g. wind turbines), there are few studies dealing with the visual impact of photovoltaic plants. Given this picture, in this work the activity and studies conducted by the authors regarding the territorial impacts of photovoltaic plant are presented. In particular, the assessment of the risk of glare by reflection of direct sunlight from the surfaces of photovoltaic modules and the visual impact analysis based on a quantitative indicators are analyzed and presented. The use of vegetation as a green screen is also discussed and applied. From the results, it can be derived that such procedures can be effectively used provided that a regulatory framework is set by the local authority that carries out the authorization procedures. The results of this research may also contribute to the improvement of the know-how that is required to carry out the landscape integration report (Relazione paesaggistica D.P.C.M. 12.12.2005) that is required by the local authorities during the authorization procedures of such plants. Finally, a discussion on how this procedure may be used and integrated into the administrative requirements of large and small scale PV plants developments is carried out.
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