Abstract
Renewable energy installations are known to visually impact the physiognomy of the landscape. They can change its visual resources in many ways, the most important factors being their dimensions and placement. Renewable energy investments are often perceived as visual obstacles which may cause visual pollution in valuable landscape. To prevent this, various visual impact assessment procedures were developed to guide the planning process for such investments. Assessment worksheets, which are proposed as a part of guidelines and good practices are developed to unify and objectify the results of visual impact assessments. In Poland, visual impact assessments should be carried out in accordance with the EIA and SEA procedures. However, there are no detailed regulations of the assessments so far. These policies could incorporate the assessment worksheets for better control of the investment planning process. The aim of this research is to create a comparison of visual impact assessment worksheets based on existing policies and papers published in various countries. Assessment worksheets were also evaluated in scope of their suitability for visual impact assessments done within the EIA and SEA procedures for projects associated with renewable energy investments. Research was based on content analyses of evaluated publications, which contain assessment worksheets as part of the proposed assessment methodologies. The results of this research could be used as a basis for further development of a methodology for conducting visual impact assessments as a part of the EIA and SEA procedures in Poland.