WINDLAND: Spatial assessment of environment-economy trade-offs to reduce wind power conflicts

Our primary objective is to evaluate the loss of ecosystem services associated with wind energy installations, and to construct methods to use these data as input in designing policy instruments and regulations in order to reduce the conflicts of interest across stakeholders.

Our secondary objectives are to answer the following research questions: What are the welfare losses from reduced flow of ecosystem services caused by construction of wind farms and associated grid? How can we build a framework for transferring the assessed values of ecosystem services to decision making contexts? What is the economic and environmentally friendly priority plan for the geographical distribution of wind installations in Norway? How do the assessed values of ecosystem services affect the priority plan and energy system cost? How can application of the polluter pay principle and improved legal protection of the environment increase the support of wind power?