Value chain · CLM-1398
In plain terms
A 2022 survey of real US power plants found that, per unit of electricity, nuclear uses the least land and, of these six, wind farms use the most if the land between turbines is counted; if only the turbine pads and roads are counted, wind uses little land.
The claim as recorded
Lovering et al. (2022) give median land-use intensity of electricity, total direct and indirect, of 7.1 ha/TWh/y for nuclear, 130 for wind (footprint), 410 for natural gas (footprint, including fuel extraction), 1,900 for natural gas (spacing), 2,000 for ground-mounted PV and 12,000 for wind (spacing). Converted at 8.766 TWh/y per GW of average power, these are 0.62, 11.4, 35.9, 167, 175 and 1,052 km2 per GW of average power delivered.
Scope and limits
US plants only for nuclear, wind and ground PV (p.5). For PV the figure is direct area only (p.6; indirect land is fuel-sourcing land, p.7), and 61 of its 91 named PV area points are from Ong et al. (SRC-188). Nuclear fuel-cycle land is mostly from Australian mining surveys (p.4-5). Lovering does not say which gas definition the "over 90%" indirect share applies to. Medians, not means. Excludes upstream manufacturing land (p.8), nuclear accident zones (3.9 ha/TWh/y extra, p.5) and a waste repository (0.012-2.9 ha/TWh, p.5). Gas footprint and spacing both include fuel land; no plant-only gas figure is given. Natural gas (spacing) has n = 4. Not directly comparable with the rectenna-only figures of CALC-118, which exclude launch, manufacturing and transmission land.
What it assumes
1 GWav = 8,766 GWh/yr (365.25-day year).
Where it comes from
Table 1 rows (median, IQR, mean, n): Nuclear 7.1, 4.8, 15, 59; Wind (footprint) 130, 120, 170, 57; Natural gas (footprint) 410, 210, 410, 17; Natural gas (spacing) 1,900, 2,800, 1,900, 4; Ground-mounted PV 2,000, 860, 2,100, 94; Wind (spacing) 12,000, 12,000, 15,000, 57. Table 1 caption: "total direct and indirect land use (ha/TWh/y)". p.8: indirect land "comprises over 90% of total land use for natural gas generation"; for nuclear indirect land is "only 10% of total LUIE". Arithmetic: km2/GWav = ha/TWh/y x 8.766 x 0.01.
Basis: ha/TWh/y, median, total direct and indirect land use (direct only for PV), US plants (hydro global), measured generation
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-007 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1398
CLM-1398, Energy Aperture, as of 2022.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.