Explaining Factors Leading to Community Acceptance of Wind Energy. Results of an Expert Assessment

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 8; p. 2119
• Main Authors: De Luca, Elena, Nardi, Cecilia, Giuffrida, Laura Gaetana, Krug, Michael, Di Nucci, Maria Rosaria
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.04.2020
• Subjects: Acceptance; Alternative energy sources; Community; Decision making; Energy industry; Energy policy; Industrial plant emissions; Literature reviews; participation; Public involvement; Public participation; Renewable resources; social acceptance; Turbines; wind energy; Wind farms; Wind power
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en13082119

The present article deals with two key drivers of social acceptance of wind energy: procedural justice and distributional justice. It is based on a comparative expert assessment carried out in the frame of the Horizon 2020 project WinWind covering six European countries. The focus of the paper is on procedural and financial participation of citizens and local stakeholders in wind energy projects. The first part covers institutional arrangements for public engagement in two areas of the decision-making process—wind turbine zoning/siting in spatial plans and authorization procedures. Here, three levels of public involvement—information, consultation and participation—were analyzed. The second part examines active and financial participation of citizens and local stakeholders. Here, we distinguish between two different modes of governance: institutionalized forms of public governance and voluntary forms of corporate governance. The outcomes suggest that concrete paths to the social acceptance of wind energy are fostered via appropriate institutional spaces for public engagement. Furthermore, missing opportunities for active and passive financial participation can have strong negative consequences for community acceptance