Ecosystem Services Approach to Evaluate Renewable Energy Plants Effects

Economic, social and environmental aspects have led local, regional and national governments to promote policies to increase the spread of renewable energy (especially wind energy). The transformation into an energy system based on renewable sources is therefore already underway. In this context, the effects of renewable energy sources on ecosystems are to be analyzed. In this regard, the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), promoted by the United Nations, is an international reference for the development of a global environmental assessment approach. One of its most innovative contributions is to promote a structured approach in which the value of the ecosystem in the decision-making process should be based on the idea of the services it provides to humans. This work presents the results of an ex-post analysis carried out to assess the effects of rapid growth of renewable energy plants in a low-density area with a strong agricultural vocation, characterized by an important industrial center and areas of high natural values. The approach used is that of ecosystem services through the use of the most significant INVEST tools in the context: carbon stock and storage, crop production, crop pollination and habitat quality. A spatial combination has been performed in order to assess ecosystem services cumulative loss.