Towards a global atlas for renewable energy landscape planning strategies based on energy potentials and landscape saturation

As the global transition towards renewable energy (RE) accelerates, the integration of wind and solar infrastructure into diverse landscapes has become a central theme in multicriteria analyses and spatial planning. This research seeks to contribute to the mitigation of landscape-related pressures and the corresponding societal concerns. To this aim, a data-driven atlas of global "landscape stress" levels will be created, representing the landscape saturation or sensitivity of each country globally. This framework will be then used to propose the right site-selection strategies for different RE technologies and countries, combining their landscape protection requirements with other technical and economic considerations. 

Over the last several decades, a wide variety of planning approaches for RE siting has been developed, ranging from site-specific analyses to macro-scale spatial exclusion zones; however, there remains a lack of a selection procedure for appropriate approaches for each country. The methodological objective of the proposed framework is to facilitate a strategic choice between the diverse planning methodologies available to policymakers. This effort culminates in a global atlas for renewable energy landscape planning strategies, which assigns a specific rating to each country and classifies them into strategic groups based on their combined landscape-energy profile. We argue that planning measures should be commensurate with both a country's RE potential and its level of landscape saturation: nations with lower stress can benefit from "loose," streamlined planning frameworks, whereas those with higher saturation might require more thorough planning with stricter criteria—such as higher-resolution landscape scenicness analyses and stricter thresholds in visibility analyses.

The research undertakes an interdisciplinary approach, combining expertise in landscape planning, energy systems analysis, and energy economics. Thus, a dual set of global indicators is utilized; firstly, covering electricity generation, installed RE capacities, and future technical potentials for wind and solar energy and secondly, societal and landscape-related metrics, such as development indices, income averages and terrain ruggedness and landscape scenicness. We present a first-order utilization of these datasets to categorize countries based on their current "landscape saturation" versus their remaining techno-economic RE potential. This preliminary analysis serves as a proof-of-concept for a global "Landscape Stress Index," mapping how different nations are positioned relative to their energy transition targets and landscape constraints and challenges.

With the renewable energy transition scaling up, the spatial integration of infrastructure becomes increasingly complex as the availability of sites with potential for low or mild landscape impacts is gradually depleted. By identifying the national combined landscape-energy profiles of countries, this research establishes a foundation for the selection of evidence-based tools and policy directions. Moreover, it is recognized that the deployment of new energy conversion technologies leads to both positive and negative environmental externalities. The public's skeptical attitude toward the latter can create discrepancies between private and social costs and benefits, which can justify government intervention or regulation to enhance the energy transition process. Overall, this work contributes to a more socially acceptable and efficient global energy transition that integrates landscape concerns along with the major technical and economic criteria that define RE planning.