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Energy production by wind and solar farms could reduce carbon emissions and thus mitigate anthropogenic climate change. A new climate modeling study, published in the journal Sciencenotes that large-scale wind and solar farms in the Sahara Desert and in the neighboring Sahel region – areas that are particularly desirable for these farms due to their size and lack of inhabitants – would increase the temperature , rainfall and local vegetation.
Wind and solar farms are known to have local effects on heat, humidity and other factors that may be beneficial to the regions in which they are located. Image credit: Erich Westendarp.
The models suggest that massive wind and solar farms, which are valued to replace traditional electricity generation, have the potential to produce climate change on a continental scale.
However, up to now, how wind and solar farms – whose panels and infrastructure would cover large tracts of land if they were more widely implemented – could alter vegetation and climate processes regional studies have not been fully evaluated.
Yan Li, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and co-authors sought to further explore the impact of solar and wind parks in the Sahara Desert and Sahel.
"Our study is among the first to model the climatic effects of wind and solar installations while considering how vegetation responds to changes in heat and precipitation," said Dr. Li.
"Previous modeling studies have shown that large-scale wind and solar farms can produce significant climate change across the continent. But the lack of feedback from the vegetation could make the climate impacts modeled very different from their actual behavior.
The wind and solar farms simulated in the study would cover more than 9 million km2 and generate, on average, about 3 terawatts and 79 terawatts of electrical energy, respectively.
"In 2017, global energy demand was only 18 terawatts, which of course represents a lot more energy than is currently required worldwide," said Dr. Li.
The model revealed that wind farms caused a regional warming of near-surface air temperature, with greater variations in minimum temperatures than the maximum temperatures.
"Nighttime warming is all the more important as wind turbines can improve vertical mixing and lower the air temperature," the researchers said.
"Precipitation has also increased by an average of 0.25 mm per day in areas where the wind farm is installed."
"It was a doubling of precipitation compared to control experiments. In the Sahel, average rainfall increased by 1.12 mm per day where wind farms were present, "said Dr. Li.
"This increase in rainfall in turn leads to an increase in vegetation cover, creating a positive feedback loop."
Solar farms had a similar positive effect on temperature and precipitation. Unlike wind farms, solar panels have had very little effect on wind speed.
"We have found that large-scale installation of solar and wind farms can generate more precipitation and vegetation growth in these areas," said co-author Eugenia Kalnay of the University of Maryland.
"The increase in precipitation is a consequence of the complex land-atmosphere interactions that occur because solar panels and wind turbines create rougher and darker land surfaces."
"The increase in rainfall and vegetation, combined with clean electricity from solar and wind energy, could help agriculture, economic development and social well-being in the Sahara, the Sahel, the Middle East and the Middle East. Orient and other neighboring regions. Dr. Safa Motesharrei, also from the University of Maryland.
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Yan Li et al. 2018. The climate model shows that large-scale wind and solar farms in the Sahara increase rainfall and vegetation. Science 361 (6406): 1019-1022; doi: 10.1126 / science.aar5629
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