Globally, the production of renewable energy is undergoing rapid growth. One of the most pressing issues is the appropriate allocation of renewable power plants, as the question of where to produce renewable electricity is highly controversial. Here we explore this issue through analysis of the efficient and equitable spatial allocation of wind turbines and photovoltaic power plants in Germany. We combine multiple methods, including legal analysis, economic and energy modelling, monetary valuation and numerical optimization. We find that minimum distances between renewable power plants and human settlements should be as small as is legally possible. Even small reductions in efficiency lead to large increases in equity. By considering electricity grid expansion costs, we find a more even allocation of power plants across the country than is the case when grid expansion costs are neglected.

在全球范围内，可再生能源的生产正在快速增长。最紧迫的问题之一是可再生能源发电厂的适当配置，因为在哪里生产可再生电力的问题引起了极大的争议。在这里，我们通过分析德国风力涡轮机和光伏电站的有效和公平的空间分配来探讨这个问题。我们结合了多种方法，包括法律分析，经济和能源建模，货币估值和数值优化。我们发现，可再生能源发电厂与人类住区之间的最小距离应尽可能小。效率的小幅下降都会导致公平的大幅度增长。考虑电网扩建成本，