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Does community ownership affect public attitudes to wind energy?

Does community ownership affect public attitudes to wind energy? A case study from south-west Scotland ESRC Seminar, Cardiff, 17-2-2009. Charles Warren & Malcolm McFadyen School of Geography & Geosciences, University of St Andrews Scotland, UK. Does community ownership affect

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Does community ownership affect public attitudes to wind energy?

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  1. Does community ownership affect public attitudes to wind energy? A case study from south-west Scotland ESRC Seminar, Cardiff, 17-2-2009 Charles Warren & Malcolm McFadyen School of Geography & Geosciences, University of St Andrews Scotland, UK

  2. Does community ownership affect public attitudes to wind energy? A case study from south-west Scotland ESRC Seminar, Cardiff, 17-2-2009 • Presentation Outline • Scottish context • Research questions & study area • Summary of results • Conclusions

  3. SCOTTISH CONTEXT

  4. SCOTTISH CONTEXT Excellent resource + strong policy support  rapid development of onshore wind power

  5. Windfarm ‘footprint’ in Scotland, August 2008

  6. SCOTTISH CONTEXT Excellent resource + strong policy support  lots of windfarms BUT Rate & scale of development strong public opposition - esp. re landscape impacts Why? Perhaps due to the development model: private sector companies, with public subsidies, developing large windfarms ie. no direct community involvement Might community ownership result in greater social acceptability?

  7. SCOTTISH CONTEXT Scottish politics: devolution in 1999 land reform process land purchases by local communities One community buyout - of the Isle of Gigha in 2002 - resulted in the development of Scotland’s first community-owned, grid-connected windfarm, commissioned in 2005

  8. RESEARCH QUESTIONS • Tested three hypotheses: • Community-owned windfarms are associated with more positive local attitudes than windfarms owned by commercial companies • Support for wind power is low in areas with multiple windfarms, specifically as a consequence of visual impacts and cumulative effects • Windfarms make a region less attractive to tourists

  9. Beinn an Tuirc Windfarm, March 2007 Tangy Windfarm, March 2007

  10. Gigha: one of the three turbines, with the islands of Jura and Islay beyond Isle of Gigha from the south-west, March 2007 Data gathered in autumn 2006 - Likert-scale questionnaires (n = 106) + 5 interviews

  11. RESULTS

  12. Attitudes towards increasing development of wind power in Scotland as a whole Negative Positive Attitudes towards increasing development of wind power in the local area Negative Positive

  13. RESULTS ‘What are your two greatest concerns about wind power?’ Largest response category in both areas = ‘no concerns’ Landscape impacts of windfarms were of concern to some. But …

  14. Negative Positive Respondents’ evaluation of the visual impact of windfarms on the local landscape Those perceiving visual impacts as positive outnumbered those who saw them as negative by >7:1 on Gigha and by almost 3:1 on Kintyre

  15. RESULTS The influence of ownership: • Kintyre: 45% would be more positive if windfarms were owned by local communities • Gigha: 65% would be less supportive of a • commercial windfarm • Gigha - reasons for support: • economic: annual income of £85,000 • symbolism, community pride - sense of ownership Turbines nicknamed ‘the Three Dancing Ladies’ and given individual Gaelic names - Creideas, Dòchas & Carthanna(Faith, Hope & Charity) Striking contrast to language of windfarm opponents …

  16. RESULTS Tourist survey For 90% of tourists, windfarms were irrelevant The remainder were split 50:50 - attractive v. repellent

  17. CONCLUSIONS - hypotheses revisited: • Community-owned windfarms are associated with more • positive local attitudes than windfarms owned by commercial • companies - SUPPORTED • Community ownership doesn’t magically turn opponents into • supporters. It appears to amplify positive attitudes and • suppress negative ones. • Contrasts between Kintyre and Gigha are differences of • degree, not diametrically opposing viewpoints. • Attitudes are broadly supportive in both areas. • Support for wind power is low in areas with multiple windfarms - NOT SUPPORTED • Windfarms make a region less attractive to tourists • - NOT SUPPORTED

  18. CONCLUSIONS Results imply that an increase in community ownership could increase public support for windfarms in Scotland & UK But: Has the UK missed the boat for widespread community-owned wind power projects? cf. recent Danish experience

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