Wind Techno-economic Exclusion

Published by California Energy Commission | State of California | Metadata Last Checked: July 24, 2025 | Last Modified: 2023-04-27T20:55:30.701Z

The site suitability criteria included in the techno-economic land use screens are listed below. As this list is an update to previous cycles, tribal lands, prime farmland, and flood zones are not included as they are not technically infeasible for development. The techno-economic site suitability exclusion thresholds are presented in table 1. Distances indicate the minimum distance from each feature for commercial scale wind development Attributes: <ul><li>Steeply sloped areas: change in vertical elevation compared to horizontal distance</li><li>Population density: the number of people living in a 1 km2 area </li><li>Urban areas: defined by the U.S. Census. </li><li>Water bodies: defined by the U.S. National Atlas Water Feature Areas, available from Argonne National Lab Energy Zone Mapping Tool </li><li>Railways: a comprehensive database of North America's railway system from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), available from Argonne National Lab Energy Zone Mapping Tool </li><li>Major highways: available from ESRI Living Atlas </li><li>Airports: The Airports dataset including other aviation facilities as of July 13, 2018 is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)/Bureau of Transportation Statistics's (BTS's) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). The Airports database is a geographic point database of aircraft landing facilities in the United States and U.S. Territories. Attribute data is provided on the physical and operational characteristics of the landing facility, current usage including enplanements and aircraft operations, congestion levels and usage categories. This geospatial data is derived from the FAA's National Airspace System Resource Aeronautical Data Product. Available from Argonne National Lab Energy Zone Mapping Tool </li><li>Active mines: Active Mines and Mineral Processing Plants in the United States in 2003</li><li>Military Lands: Land owned by the federal government that is part of a US military base, camp, post, station, yard, center, or installation. </li></ul><div>Table 1 <div align='center'> <table border='1' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' style='border-collapse:collapse; border:none;'> <tbody><tr> <td style='width:116.85pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; background:#44546A; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' width='156'> </td> <td style='width:116.9pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left:none; background:#44546A; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> Wind </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='width:116.85pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top:none; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> Steeply sloped areas </td> <td style='width:116.9pt; border-top:none; border-left:none; border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> >10o </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='width:116.85pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top:none; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> Population density </td> <td style='width:116.9pt; border-top:none; border-left:none; border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> >100/km2 </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='width:116.85pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top:none; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> Capacity factor </td> <td style='width:116.9pt; border-top:none; border-left:none; border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> <20% </td> </tr> <tr style='height:24.0pt;'> <td style='width:116.85pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top:none; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt;' valign='top' width='156'> Urban areas </td> <td style='width:116.9pt; border-top:none; border-left:none; border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; height:24.0pt;' valign='top' width='156'> <1000 m </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='width:116.85pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top:none; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> Water bodies </td> <td style='width:116.9pt; border-top:none; border-left:none; border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> <250 m </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='width:116.85pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top:none; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> Railways </td> <td style='width:116.9pt; border-top:none; border-left:none; border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> <250 m </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='width:116.85pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top:none; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> Major highways </td> <td style='width:116.9pt; border-top:none; border-left:none; border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> <125 m </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='width:116.85pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top:none; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> Airports </td> <td style='width:116.9pt; border-top:none; border-left:none; border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> <5000 m </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='width:116.85pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top:none; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> Active mines </td> <td style='width:116.9pt; border-top:none; border-left:none; border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> <1000 m </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='width:116.85pt; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top:none; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> Military Lands </td> <td style='width:116.9pt; border-top:none; border-left:none; border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-right:solid windowtext 1.0pt; padding:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;' valign='top' width='156'> <3000m </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </div>For more information about the processes and sources used to develop the screening criteria see sources 1-7 in the footnotes. Data updates occur as needed, corresponding to typical 3-year CPUC IRP planning cycles </div><div>Footnotes:</div><div>[1] Lopez, A. et. al. “U.S. Renewable Energy Technical Potentials: A GIS-Based Analysis,” 2012. <a href='https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/51946.pdf' style='font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;' rel='nofollow ugc'>https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/51946.pdf</a></div><div>[2] <a href='https://greeningthegrid.org/Renewable-Energy-Zones-Toolkit/topics/social-environmental-and-other-impacts#ReadingListAndCaseStudies' rel='nofollow ugc'>https://greeningthegrid.org/Renewable-Energy-Zones-Toolkit/topics/social-environmental-and-other-impacts#ReadingListAndCaseStudies</a></div><div>[3] <a>Multi-Criteria Analysis for Renewable Energy (MapRE), University of California Santa Barbara. </a><a href='https://mapre.es.ucsb.edu/' rel='nofollow ugc'>https://mapre.es.ucsb.edu/</a></div><div>[4] Larson, E. et. al. “Net-Zero America: Potential Pathways, Infrastructure, and Impacts, Interim Report.” Princeton University, 2020. <a href='https://environmenthalfcentury.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf331/files/2020-12/Princeton_NZA_Interim_Report_15_Dec_2020_FINAL.pdf' rel='nofollow ugc'>https://environmenthalfcentury.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf331/files/2020-12/Princeton_NZA_Interim_Report_15_Dec_2020_FINAL.pdf</a>.</div><div>[5] Wu, G. et. al. “Low-Impact Land Use Pathways to Deep Decarbonization of Electricity.” Environmental Research Letters 15, no. 7 (July 10, 2020). <a href='https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab87d1' rel='nofollow ugc'>https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab87d1</a>.</div><div>[6] RETI Coordinating Committee, RETI Stakeholder Steering Committee. “Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative Phase 1B Final Report.” California Energy Commission, January 2009.</div><div>[7] Pletka, Ryan, and Joshua Finn. “Western Renewable Energy Zones, Phase 1: QRA Identification Technical Report.” Black & Veatch and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2009. <a href='https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/46877.pdf' style='font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;' rel='nofollow ugc'>https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/46877.pdf</a>.</div><div>[8]<a href='https://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/geo/shapefiles/index.php?year=2019&layergroup=Urban+Areas' style='font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;' rel='nofollow ugc'>https://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/geo/shapefiles/index.php?year=2019&layergroup=Urban+Areas</a></div><div>[9]https://ezmt.anl.gov/</div><div>[10]https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=fc870766a3994111bce4a083413988e4</div><div>[11]<a href='https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mineplant/' style='font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;' rel='nofollow ugc'>https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mineplant/</a></div><div> </div><div><h3>Credits</h3> Title: Techno-economic screening criteria for utility-scale wind energy installations for Integrated Resource Planning Purpose for creation: These site suitability criteria are for use in electric system planning, capacity expansion modeling, and integrated resource planning. Keywords: wind energy, resource potential, techno-economic, IRP Extent: western states of the contiguous U.S. <h3>Use Limitations</h3> The geospatial data created by the use of these techno-economic screens inform high-level estimates of technical renewable resource potential for electric system planning and should not be used, on their own, to guide siting of generation projects nor assess project-level impacts.Confidentiality: Public <h3>Contact</h3>Emily Leslie <a href='mailto:Emily@MontaraMtEnergy.com' rel='nofollow ugc'>Emily@MontaraMtEnergy.com</a>Sam Schreiber <a href='mailto:sam.schreiber@ethree.com' rel='nofollow ugc'>sam.schreiber@ethree.com</a> Jared Ferguson <a href='mailto:Jared.Ferguson@cpuc.ca.gov' rel='nofollow ugc'>Jared.Ferguson@cpuc.ca.gov</a>Oluwafemi Sawyerr <a href='mailto:femi@ethree.com' rel='nofollow ugc'>femi@ethree.com</a></div>

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Complete Metadata

identifier	21a7da31-7ba6-4307-bfd3-34471ba21402
issued	2023-03-01T00:33:17.000Z
theme	[ "Natural Resources" ]