Optimal positioning of renewable energy units

Renewable energy sources (RES) will play a major role in future energy systems. Political RES goals are only defined in terms of targeted capacity or energy. This paper presents an approach to calculate the corresponding optimal location of RES generation. Potential areas for the expansion of the considered generation technologies (wind onshore and offshore, photovoltaics and concentrated solar power) are calculated in a land use analysis. The corresponding renewable energy supply is determined via a meterological analysis. Eventually optimal RES investment decisions are determined. Data reduction and handling is a major focus in the model implementation which can be applied for whole Europe. Exemplary results for wind turbines show that the developed approach can be used to fundamentally plan future RES locations. Wind energy should mainly be expanded on coastlines but higher capacities need also efficient interior locations.