The value of invisibility: factors affecting social acceptance of renewable energy

ABSTRACT

Notwithstanding the global turn to renewable energy, its development is constrained by a lack of social acceptance. Various studies have evaluated citizens’ acceptance of and willingness to pay (WTP) for renewable energy and associated factors. We broadened the analytical framework of previous studies by incorporating spatial data on renewable and nonrenewable power plants, natural and produced capital, and renewable energy potential to determine key factors affecting social acceptance measured through WTP for renewable energy in Japan. We found that besides respondents’ ages, sex, education levels, and household incomes, their proximity to existing power plants generating renewable and nonrenewable energy and natural capital endowments in their locations significantly affected their WTP for renewable energy. Our analysis further revealed that whereas visible solar PV plants located within 3 km of respondents’ residences negatively affected their WTP, less visible plants at high elevations did not impact negatively on social acceptance.

KEYWORDS:

• Renewable energy
• nimby
• social acceptance
• spatial analysis
• visibility

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan under a Grant-in-Aid (number 21K17927) and the Ministry of the Environment of Japan under a Grant (number 1-2001). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies. We sincerely thank the staff of the National Institute of Informatics for providing us with inputs and data on power plants for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ In this study, mini-hydroelectric power plants are those with capacities below 10,000 kW.

² The questionnaire was administered by the authors in February 2019.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [21K17927]; Ministry of the Environment [1-2001].