ABSTRACT

Impact assessment can play an important role in global energy transition, delivering knowledge to identify and manage the impacts of renewable energy projects. Yet, there are enduring concerns about IA’s efficacy for renewable energy development. Based on content analysis of IA applications for wind energy development in Canada, this paper examines the environmental and social impacts typically assessed across wind energy projects and the mitigation solutions proposed. Results indicate considerable imbalance between biophysical versus social impacts, including mitigation solutions. IAs include far more solutions for managing biophysical impacts than social ones, with impact-to-mitigation ratios of 1:4.3 and 1:1.3 respectively. Most mitigations focus on impact minimisation, followed by avoidance, and are often vague and imprecise regarding the timing, methods of implementation, and responsibility. Notwithstanding common impacts, mitigation actions that were common across projects were too vague or imprecise to support transferable practice to find efficiencies in assessment. Improved understanding the impacts of renewable energy projects and mitigation solutions, and learning from one project to the next, are foundational to advancing the role of IA the transition to renewable energy.

摘要

影响评估可以在全球能源转型中发挥重要作用，提供知识来识别和管理可再生能源项目的影响。然而，人们一直担心 IA 在可再生能源开发方面的功效。基于对加拿大风能开发的 IA 应用的内容分析，本文研究了通常评估的风能项目的环境和社会影响以及提出的缓解解决方案。结果表明生物物理影响与社会影响之间存在相当大的不平衡，包括缓解解决方案。IAs 包括比社会影响更多的管理生物物理影响的解决方案，影响与缓解的比率分别为 1:4.3 和 1:1.3。大多数缓解措施侧重于将影响最小化，其次是避免，在时间安排、实施方法和责任方面往往含糊不清和不准确。尽管有共同的影响，但跨项目共同的缓解行动过于模糊或不精确，无法支持可转移的实践来寻找评估效率。更好地了解可再生能源项目和缓解解决方案的影响，以及从一个项目到下一个项目的学习，是推进 IA 向可再生能源过渡的作用的基础。