SERG PhD student Mikey Harper is working on a number of methods to assess the potential for wind turbine development in the UK. As part of this he has produced a map of on-shore wind turbine planning applications to date and has also developed a model for predicting the likelihood of planning success for future sites.
To investigate sites near you try out his interactive app and to learn more about the data and methods used have a look at his recent conference paper.
The paper explored whether the planning success of proposed wind turbine projects can be predicted using a range of geospatial parameters based on Great Britain as a case study. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between appropriate variables and planning outcome. The results indicate that the size of the project, percentage of the local population with high levels of qualifications, the average age, and local political composition emerge as key influences affecting planning approval.
