Zoekresultaten

Effect zonnepark op waterkwaliteit verwaarloosbaar

Drijvende zonneparken komen steeds vaker voor. Het grootste van Europa bevindt zich in Zwolle. Hier is onderzoek gedaan naar het effect van de drijvend panelen op de waterkwaliteit en het leven in het water. De eerste resultaten tekenen zich af: op deze locatie en installatie vrijwel geen effecten op het zuurstofgehalte onder de drijvende energiefabriek.

Drijvende zonnepanelen en hun effect op de waterkwaliteit

In Nederland drijven steeds meer zonnepanelen op het water. Kennis omtrent het effect op de waterkwaliteit van deze zonneparken is echter beperkt. Praktijkmetingen onder de platforms zijn vaak lastig uit te voeren. Er zijn onderwaterdrones ingezet met sensoren en camera’s. Deze praktijkmetingen zijn nodig ter ondersteuning van vergunningverlening en opstellen van richtlijnenvoor ontwerp, implementatie en beheer van drijvende zonnepanelen om een gezond leefmilieu te handhaven en om de duurzame energietransitie te bevorderen. Op de onderzoekslocatie is geen significante impact gemeten op de kwaliteit van het oppervlaktewater.

In-Situ Water Quality Observations under a Large-Scale Floating Solar Farm Using Sensors and Underwater Drones

The rapid implementation of large scale floating solar panels has consequences to water quality and local ecosystems. Environmental impacts depend on the dimensions, design and proportions of the system in relation to the size of the surface water, as well as the characteristics of the water system (currents, tidal effects) and climatic conditions. There is often no time (and budget) for thorough research into these effects on ecology and water quality. A few studies have addressed the potential impacts of floating solar panels, but often rely on models without validation with in situ data. In this work, water quality sensors continuously monitored key water quality parameters at two different locations: (i) underneath a floating solar park; (ii) at a reference location positioned in open water. An underwater drone was used to obtain vertical profiles of water quality and to collect underwater images. The results showed little differences in the measured key water quality parameters below the solar panels. The temperature at the upper layers of water was lower under the solar panels, and there were less detected temperature fluctuations. A biofouling layer on the floating structure was visible in the underwater images a few months after the construction of the park

Effect van vervuiling en reiniging van zonnepanelen op twee locaties in Nederland.

Laat het klimaat niet lijden onder deze crisis

Problems, mistakes and good practices in community participation in local renewable energy projects

Citizen participation in local renewable energy projects is often promoted as many suppose it to be a panacea for the difficulties that are involved in the energy transition process. Quite evidently, it is not; there is a wide variety of visions, ideologies and interests related to an ‘energy transition’. Such a variety is actually a precondition for a stakeholder participation process, as stakeholder participation only makes sense if there is ‘something at stake’. Conflicting viewpoints, interests and debates are the essence of participation. The success of stakeholder participation implies that these differences are acknowledged, and discussed, and that this has created mutual understanding among stakeholders. It does not necessarily create ‘acceptance’. Renewable energy projects often give rise to local conflict. The successful implementation of local renewable energy systems depends on the support of the local social fabric. While at one hand decisions to construct wind turbines in specific regions trigger local resistance, the opposite also occurs! Solar parks sometimes create a similar variation: Various communities try to prevent the construction of solar parks in their vicinity, while other communities proudly present their parks. Altogether, local renewable energy initiatives create a rather chaotic picture, if regarded from the perspective of government planning. However, if we regard the successes, it appears the top down initiatives are most successful in areas with a weak social fabric, like industrial areas, or rather recently reclaimed land. Deeply rooted communities, virtually only have successful renewable energy projects that are more or less bottom up initiatives. This paper will first sketch why participation is important, and present a categorisation of processes and procedures that could be applied. It also sketches a number of myths and paradoxes that might occur in participation processes. ‘Compensating’ individuals and/or communities to accept wind turbines or solar parks is not sufficient to gain ‘acceptance’. A basic feature of many debates on local renewable energy projects is about ‘fairness’. The implication is that decision-making is neither on pros and cons of various renewable energy technologies as such, nor on what citizens are obliged to accept, but on a fair distribution of costs and benefits. Such discussions on fairness cannot be short cut by referring to legal rules, scientific evidence, or to standard financial compensations. History plays a role as old feelings of being disadvantaged, both at individual and at group level, might re-emerge in such debates. The paper will provide an overview of various local controversies on renewable energy initiatives in the Netherlands. It will argue that an open citizen participation process can be organized to work towards fair decisions, and that citizens should not be addressed as greedy subjects, trying to optimise their own private interests, but as responsible persons.