Trade-off between photovoltaic systems installation and agricultural practices on arable lands: An environmental and socio-economic impact analysis for Italy

•A GIS multiscale model for photovoltaic solar energy estimation is developed.•The model introduces in the analysis socio-economic and environmental constraints.•We model the trade-off among solar energy and crops production.•The flexible and multistep approach defines a practical Decision Support S...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Land use policy 2016-11, Vol.56, p.90-99
Main Authors: Sacchelli, S., Garegnani, G., Geri, F., Grilli, G., Paletto, A., Zambelli, P., Ciolli, M., Vettorato, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Crop production
Open-source model
Solar energy
Spatial analysis
Sustainability constraint
Trade-off evaluation
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Summary:•A GIS multiscale model for photovoltaic solar energy estimation is developed.•The model introduces in the analysis socio-economic and environmental constraints.•We model the trade-off among solar energy and crops production.•The flexible and multistep approach defines a practical Decision Support System. The paper introduces and discusses an open-source spatial-based model (called r.green.solar) able to quantify the energy production from solar photovoltaic (PV) ground-mounted panels. Socio-economic and environmental impacts can be evaluated by the model. The model starts from the theoretical quantity of solar PV potential energy and estimates a reduction of total amount of energy based on legal, technical, recommended and economic constraints. Model outputs were used for a trade-off analysis between energy production and traditional crops for food/feed cultivation on not irrigated arable land. The model was tested at regional level for a Mediterranean context (Italy). The results confirm that the economic profitability of PV systems follows a north-south gradient, but the main impacts are related to local peculiarities – such as the disposal of not irrigated arable land and the presence of constraints, in particular the landscape maintenance, the morphological variables and the specialization index – and crop yields.
ISSN:0264-8377
1873-5754
DOI:10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.04.024