The acceptability of wind farms: the impact of public participation

ABSTRACT

The planning process for wind farm projects appears to be a complicated matter in many cases. Despite the positive attitude towards wind power in general, local wind farm projects often face strong opposition. The aim of this study is to shed more light on residents’ perceptions of participation in the planning process of wind farms. This study is based on interview data (N = 22) and survey data (N = 291) collected from residents living near two Finnish large-scale onshore wind farms built about 1.5 years before the data were collected. The results indicate that residents’ participation in the planning process was rather passive and the vast majority of the respondents perceived that they did not have an opportunity to participate. Quite interestingly, perceived participation in the planning process resulted in a decrease in acceptability in terms of perceived well-being. Furthermore, the results indicate that the need for participation does not expire after the planning process for a wind farm has concluded. Thus, project developers should be prepared to continue communication with residents after the planning phase.

KEYWORDS:

• Wind power
• acceptability
• public participation
• planning process

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Sari Janhunen, M.Sc., is a doctoral student at the Lappeenranta University of Technology. Her thesis work is an interdisciplinary research about the acceptability of wind power in Finland. The focus is on attitudes and experiences as cognitive, emotional and behavioral views of people living near wind farm developments.

Maija Hujala, Post-Doctoral Researcher, D.Sc.(Econ.& Bus. Adm.), M.Sc.(Tech.). Her research interests are related to sustainable energy transition and include, for example, prosumers role in energy transition, and public acceptance of wind power and other renewable energy technologies. She is experienced in interdisciplinary research. She has published, for example, in Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Resources, Conservation and Recycling and Journal of Cleaner Production.

Satu Pätäri, D.Sc.(Econ.), is Professor of Strategy Research, Sustainable value creation at the School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Her main research interests include analysing and explaining the sources of sustained competitive advantage at firm level and increasing understanding of new business opportunities and their valuecreation potential. She has published for example in International Journal of Production Economics, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Journal of Cleaner Production, and Social Responsibility Journal.

Notes

1 In this paper, we follow Huijts, Molin, and Steg (2012) and define acceptability of wind power as public attitudes towards wind power and acceptance as behavioural intention.

2 In both the Lappeenranta and Merijärvi wind farms, the number of wind turbines was under 10, and the total power amounted to less than 30 MW in each case. This means that the EIA was not required. In these cases, the wind turbine siting process included zoning and planning permissions with participatory and appeal rights.

3 The question was: “Did you have an opportunity to participate in the planning and siting process of the wind farm?” The question did not include any examples of opportunities for participation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of the Environment, Finland; Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland.