Environmental external effects from wind power based on the EU ExternE methodology

The European Commission has launched a major study project, ExternE, to develop a methodology to quantify externalities. A “National Implementation Phase”, was started under the Joule II programme with the purpose of implementing the ExternE methodology in all member states. The main objective of the Danish part of the project is to implement the framework for externality evaluation, for three different power plants located in Denmark. The paper will focus on the assessment of the impacts of the whole fuel cycles for wind, natural gas and biogas. Priority areas for environmental impact assessment are identified, based on results of earlier studies and some identified of specific relevance for Denmark. Importance is attached to the quantification of impacts for each of the three fuel cycles and to monetisation of the externalities.