The contribution of Utility-Scale Solar Energy to the global climate regulation and its effects on local ecosystem services

Abstract

One solution to mitigate climate change can be the production of renewable energy. In this context, the aims of this paper are: (1) the identification of local unsuitable areas for the installation of Utility-Scale Solar Energy (USSE) in a municipality in southern Italy; (2) the assessment of the effects of their installation on local natural CO2 sequestration and on avoided CO2; and (3) the evaluation of their contribution to the global climate regulation through scenario analysis. Since 2007, 82 authorizations have been obtained for the installation of USSE in the municipality and 42 over 64 already completed have been installed in unsuitable areas. For what concerns the remaining USSE, two short-term scenarios are analysed in order to take into account their contribution in terms of climate regulation service. The first scenario is called Business As Usual with new planned USSE installed by 2014 also in unsuitable areas, and the second one with the new USSE installed only in suitable areas identified in this study. Surprisingly, Scenario 2 is characterized by a reduced natural capacity to sequester CO2 emissions and by a lower contribution of vegetation in providing the ecosystem service climate regulation in comparison with Scenario 1.