Satellite-Based Assessment of Local Environment Change by Wind Farms in China

As a widely used renewable energy, migrating to wind power can help reduce air pollution and CO₂ emissions. However, the construction of wind farms could have certain impacts on the local ecology and meteorology. Based on satellite observations along with the ERA-Interim reanalysis meteorology, this study examines the difference of vegetation characteristics, local wind speed, and surface temperature between the wind power regions and adjacent comparison areas in XilinGol. It shows that the construction of wind farms results in significant differences (p = 0.01) of normalized difference vegetation index values in the study areas compared to the adjacent areas in summer. The construction of the wind farms in study area has considerable influence on the change of local vegetation growth and related meteorological variables. It reduces the fraction of grassland, disrupts the wind field when speed are less than 4 m/s, and changes the spatial pattern of temperature during daytime and nighttime. However, the influence decreases with time after the installment of wind turbines. This study suggests that it is necessary to assess the impact of renewable energy construction on ecological environment and local climate, particularly for the short-term period after its installment.