Exploring trade-offs between landscape impact, land use and resource quality for onshore variable renewable energy: an application to Great Britain

The ambitious Net Zero aspirations of Great Britain (GB) require massive and rapid developments Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) technologies. GB possesses substantial resources for these technologies, but questions remain about which VRE should be exploited where. This study develops a transferable methodology to explore the trade-offs between landscape impact, land use competition resource quality onshore wind as well ground- roof-mounted photovoltaic (PV) systems first time across GB. These constrain technical economic potentials technologies at Local Authority level. Our approach combines techno-economic geospatial analyses with crowd-sourced ‘scenicness’ data quantify aesthetics. Despite strong correlations scenicness planning application outcomes wind, no such relationship exists ground-mounted PV. innovative method rooftop-PV assessment bottom-up analysis four cities top-down national results show large that are strongly constrained by both aspects. equates 1324 TWh 153 rooftop PV 1200–7093 PV, depending on scenario. We conclude five recommendations focus around aligning energy policies multiple scales governance arenas.