Renewable energy capture and occupation of territory

1 Renewable energy capture and occupation of territory

Today there is a broad consensus that mitigating the effects of the energy and climate crisis requires the substitution of fossil resources for renewable energies in the coming decades. The Paris Agreements of 2015 (COP 21) set a limit on the increase in the average temperature of the surface of the planet Earth of 1.5 ºC, which means leaving unburned about half of the reserves of fossil fuels.

Since the nature of renewable energy sources is very different from that of fossil fuels, this transition will lead to changes in the way energy is used in the transition towards sustainable social development: we are facing a real change of civilization. One of the most significant effects is the need to recapture energy from solar radiation (photovoltaic and termosolar) and its derivatives (water flows, winds, biomass). Fossil fuels are the result of capture by photosynthesis and other chemical reactions that took place hundreds of millions of years ago for hundreds of millions of years. It is a finite resource that we are now burning at a rate of 1 million times faster than when they were formed.

Estimates made by some authors allow us to affirm that the surface (and territory) requirements necessary to capture and manage renewable energies will be about 80 times those of the fossil and nuclear energy system. This aspect has not yet been internalized neither by the political representatives, nor by the economic managers, nor by the general population. This communication analyses the projection of these territorial requirements on a Catalan scale when, after reducing current energy expenditure by 21% with savings programs and good practices, it will be necessary to occupy an extension of around 124,000 hectares for photovoltaic and wind catchments of which 60,000 may be on anthropized soils and the remaining 64,000 on sensitive soils (agricultural, forests and woodlands). The lack of information and an executive plan together with the high dense and unbalanced population pose additional difficulties to Catalonia's energy transition.

In order to provide criteria for catchment implementations and to establish bridges of dialogue, since 2021 the CMES association has promoted the Energy Transition and Territory project (Transició Energètica I Territori, TEiT project) in collaboration with entities and people from different counties of Catalonia. This communication shall put numbers to these realities and ends with the exposition of the most relevant aspects that have emerged from these meetings.

Keywords: energy transition, renewable energies, energy capture, territory

3 Bibliography

Furró Estany, E. (2016), Catalunya, aproximació a un model energètic sostenible, Editorial Octaedro, Barcelona 2016.

Furró Estany, E. (2019), La transformació del sistema energètic, recursos, raons i eines.  Editorial Octaedro, Barcelona febrer de 2019.Bibliography

Furró Estany, E. Riba Romeva, C,; Sempere Carreras, J.; Peiró Alemany, J.M. (2023), Energia i territori. Criteris per a un nou equilibri a Catalunya.  Revista de Tecnologia, núm. 11 (2023), p. 34-43. https://revistes.iec.cat/index.php/RTEC/article/view/150641/148423

Riba Romeva, C.; Sempere, J.: Peiró, J.M.; Furró, E. (2019), El projecte Transició Energètica i Territori (TEiT) a Catalunya. Quaderns Agraris núm. 54-55,  p. 47-66 (Institució Catalana d’Estudis Agraris), desembre 2023. https://revistes.iec.cat/index.php/QA.

Smil, V. (2010), Power Density Primer: Understanding the Spatial Dimension of the Unfolding Transition to Renewable Electricity Generation. https://www.vaclavsmil.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/smil-article-power-density-primer.pdf

TEiT (TEiT-2023) Transició Energètica i Territori (Projecte TEiT). Conclusions generals, CMES (Col·lectiu per a un Nou Model Energètic i Social Sostenible), CERE (Centre d’Estudis de Ribera d’Ebre), ÀRB (Àmbit de recerques del Berguedà), CECBLL (Centre d’Estudis Comarcals del Baix Llobregat), PEO (Patronat d’Estudis d’Osona), CERIb (Centre d’Estudis Ribagorçans) i CES (Centre d’Estudis Selvatans), Vic, 18 de febrer de 2023. https://cmes.cat/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/TEiT23-2023-02-18-VIC-Conclusions-v5.pdf