Sustainable renewable energy planning and wind farming optimization from a biodiversity perspective A.Z. Dhunny a, * , Z. Allam b , D. Lobine c , M.R. Lollchund a a Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, R eduit, Mauritius b Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute (CUSP), Curtin University, Perth, Australia c Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, R eduit, Mauritius article info Article history: Received 17 January 2019 Received in revised form 27 June 2019 Accepted 23 July 2019 Available online 24 July 2019 Keywords: Wind farming Biodiversity Weather research forecast (WRF) Genetic algorithm (GA) Optimization model Renewable energy abstract The impacts of climate change, largely fuelled by the consumption of fossil fuels and an unhealthy consuming lifestyle, are encouraging a wide and far ranging adoption of renewable energy sources. This is critical, and well received, for countries who are on the frontline of climate change, in particular Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and those with fragile, unique and complex natural ecosystems. While there has been research on the importance of renewable energy and on the increasing of its efficiency for bettering its adoption and resulting economic gain, there is however little literature on the design and its implementation in respect to the rich and fragile biodiversity of areas; which contribute greatly to local ecosystems, and even to liveability dimensions of fauna, flora as well as humans, regions and cities. To ensure optimal energy generation while preserving fragile ecosystems, a method for numerical Genetic Algorithm (GA) is proposed for wind farming optimization to determine both the sitting of wind turbines and the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE). Optimal sites were identified in the small island of Mauritius and the model was applied on a complex terrain around an airport to identify optimal sites for the sitting of wind turbines while analysing the energy offset in terms of demand and supply of the area to encourage decentralised and more stable energy networks. Based on a set of parameters including local regulations and guidelines, 3 scenarios with a layout of 12, 24 and 36 wind farming sitting arrangements were proposed with a minimal impact on the fauna and flora; including the pathways of migratory birds. This paper is aimed at energy, urban planners and policy makers looking at sustainable energy planning. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Climate change has had an immeasurable, direct impact on a regional and global scale, as is discussed in a report by IRENA [1]. For this reason, there have been an increasing amount of efforts and body of literature to document and highlight these impacts with an aim of prompting long-lasting actions and mitigation strategies. In the course of those, it has been widely shared that the use of fossil fuel for power generation, and as a source of energy, significantly contributed to climate change, especially due to emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). Surprising, in what Judkins, Fulkerson [2] highlight as a dilemma, despite the negative impacts, the reliance of this form of energy have been reported to spur economic growths in many countries. In direct relation to this, the world has experienced massive emissions of GHG which have impacted on the health, environ- mental and agricultural sector amongst others. It is for this reason, amongst others, that different stakeholders have agreed on col- lective action to reduce emissions by larger margins, to over 40%, by 2030, while at the same time, investing in renewable energy [3]. The IRENA [4], highlights evidence of spirited and concerted efforts from various stakeholders to adopt renewable energy; which would help mitigate some of the problems from fossil fuel consumption. It is noted that the drive to alternative energy has gained global traction and this is evident from the substantial numbers of sizable alternative power plant projects distributed all over the globe [1 ,5]. Faced with global political pressure and increasing climatic im- pacts, even countries with large ore deposits have fortunately embraced the use of renewable energy [6e8]. This transition to renewable energy is having positive impacts especially on the economic front and this is spurring rapid adoption of these energy * Corresponding author. E-mail address: zaynahdhunny04@gmail.com (A.Z. Dhunny). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.07.147 0360-5442/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Energy 185 (2019) 1282e1297