Environmental benchmarking of wind farms according to their operational performance

The combined use of Life Cycle Assessment and Data Envelopment Analysis (LCA + DEA methodology) facilitates the identification and quantification of the environmental consequences of operational inefficiencies when assessing multiple similar facilities. In this work, the LCA + DEA methodology was used to benchmark the operational and environmental performance of a sample of 25 wind farms located in Spain. Only four of the evaluated farms were found to be comparatively efficient. Input consumption levels that would turn inefficient wind farms into efficient facilities (i.e., target wind farms) were benchmarked. The environmental impacts linked to these target facilities were also benchmarked. Average reductions of 19-45% in the consumption of selected inputs were calculated, which resulted in average impact reductions of 18-29% for a selection of environmental impact categories. The potential economic savings associated with the target wind farms were also estimated. Finally, potential relationships between efficiency and annual power generation, location or average wind speed were discussed. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.