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Bureau of Land Management
Visual Resources

Visual Impact Assessment Research and Technical Reports

Various federal agencies have sponsored visual impact assessment-related research, development of visual impact assessment tools, or technical reports relevant to visual impact assessment for utility-scale energy projects.

Wind Energy

  • Wind Turbine Visibility and Visual Impact Threshold Distance Study (2012, 47 pp).

    A field study sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wyoming Office used trained observers to systematically evaluate the visibility of modern utility-scale wind energy facilities in Wyoming and Colorado.

  • Offshore Wind Turbine Visibility and Visual Impact Threshold Distance Study (2013, 17 pp).

    BOEM collaborated with the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the University of Arkansas and Argonne National Laboratory to develop an in-house GIS-based tool to support assessment of potential visual impacts associated with offshore wind energy facilities. Included in this effort was a visual impact threshold distance analysis of existing offshore wind energy arrays off the coast of the United Kingdom.

  • Offshore North Carolina Visualization Study

    The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) partnered with the National Park Service to create state-of-the-art visual simulations of a hypothetical wind energy facility offshore North Carolina. BOEM held Visual Simulation Open Houses in North Carolina to provide an opportunity to review the results of the Offshore Wind Visualization Study, which focused on locations within the Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout National Seashores.

  • Offshore New York Visualization Study

    In response to stakeholder interest regarding visual impacts from potential future renewable energy development within the New York Call Area, BOEM has undertaken a project to develop visual simulations of a hypothetical wind energy facility on the Outer Continental Shelf offshore Long Island, New York. The purpose of the study is to characterize the potential onshore visibility of offshore wind turbines from locations along the coasts of New York and New Jersey under different seasons, times of day and weather condition.

Solar Energy

Electric Transmission

Other Reports