Urban wind power and the private sector: community benefits, social acceptance and public engagement

Abstract

Given the ambitious government targets for renewable energy generation in the UK, there has been a push by government and industry towards various types and scales of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs). This paper explores the implications of commercial urban wind projects for local communities, drawing on a case study of proposals by ASDA to construct wind turbines in two semi-urban locations in the UK. The paper argues that community responses to the proposals were complex and varied and could not adequately be encapsulated by ‘nimby’ (not in my back yard) assignations. It concludes that while ASDA followed a process of consulting local people, this process highlighted the problems of the ‘business as usual’ approach to public engagement employed by ASDA, and assumptions made about public acceptance of RETs.

Keywords:

• renewable energy
• commercial urban wind
• public engagement
• public perceptions
• social acceptance

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the ESRC for funding the research project under which the case study under discussion in the paper was conducted (ESRC grant reference RES-152-25-1008, ‘Beyond Nimbyism: a multidisciplinary investigation of public engagement with renewable energy technologies’, 1 January 2006–31 May 2009). The authors are also grateful to the three anonymous referees who provided helpful and detailed comments on an earlier version of the paper.

Notes

1. Community benefits have also been referred to as “goodwill payments” (Miner, 2009, p. 537).

2. Other distribution depots involved in this pilot are at Teesport and Wakefield, both in Yorkshire.

3. ESRC grant reference RES-152-25-1008, ‘Beyond Nimbyism: a multidisciplinary investigation of public engagement with renewable energy technologies’, 1 January 2006–31 May 2009 (case studies conducted between April and November 2008). The project was part of the TSEC Towards a Sustainable Energy Economy, a cross-disciplinary fund administered by the ESRC.

4. This was subsequently set at £100,000 over a 10-year period.