Regional economic and environmental impacts of wind power developments: a case study of a German region

Abstract

Wind power is an important technology in the transition towards a low carbon economy. This paper covers the regional impacts of wind power developments in a small German region. Wind power developments with a cumulative capacity of 63.1 MW which have been installed in 2017 in the Aachen region, generating 3901 GWh electricity from 2017 to 2037 lead to a regional value added of €50.8 million (or €805/kW). The avoided greenhouse gas emissions are 132,770 tCO2-equivalents in 2017 and the total economic impacts of value added, avoided greenhouse gases and air pollution ranging from €20.9 to €24.6 million (€332–389 per kW or €107–126 per MWh electricity generated) in 2017. From an environmental economic view, the generation of wind power is the most beneficial electricity generation technology in comparison to PV and lignite.