SIMULATION OF THE EFFECTS OF POSSIBLE REGULATIONS FOR THE LOCATION OF WIND AND PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTS IN THE LAZIO REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION (ITALY)

Abstract

The need to make electricity production increasingly sustainable requires careful planning of production plants, mainly for wind and photovoltaic energy conversion. Planning areas correctly, while respecting existing environmental constraints, is not an easy task and requires the collaboration of a panel of experts with different skills. The need to search for new sites to be allocated to renewable energy generation plants is demanded by the most pressing current events: it’s just in such a context that the Italian national legislation is undergoing a revision, which has entrusted the regional administrations with the task of identifying the territorial criteria. By simulations in GIS environments, it’s possible to study the effect of defining certain criteria on the territory, in order to assess in advance which and how many areas could have greater or lesser suitability. Based on this consideration, we proceeded to experiment with the effects of the most common constraints by developing a real simulation on the territory of the Lazio Region. The experimentation used the well-known open environment QGIS 3.22, which made it possible to exploit the possibilities offered by the open territorial databases of the Lazio Region. The first results show that the remaining areas after eliminating all those that are certainly unsuitable are a limited part of the Region itself. The analysis was extended to individual municipalities by comparing average yields per conceivable plant area, then comparing them with inhabitants for an initial estimate of energy needs at least for domestic use.