31 January 2008 Erika de Visser Ecofys Netherlands Social constraints 31 January 2008 Erika de Visser Ecofys Netherlands

Content of presentation Aim of the work Acceptance of wind energy Visual impact on the landscape Noise Institutional conditions Economic support schemes Planning policies Conclusions

Aim of the work Identify how social acceptance might hamper the development of wind energy in the EU-30. Acceptance on local level (visual, noise impacts) Acceptance on national level (support policies & planning for wind) A precondition for successful deployment of wind is that the public and planning authorities accept the technology

Local: Visual impacts Effect of siting turbines on the visual or aesthetic properties of the surroundings – perception of landscape amenity Onshore Type of landscape Configuration (size, number, …) Offshore Distance to the coast (visual impact at negligible at 8km distance)

Local: Noise impacts Two sources of sound: Mechanical Aerodynamic How noisy are wind turbines? Background noise (low density areas  industrial areas) Background noise of the wind itself Mitigation of noise problems from wind turbines: Minimum distance between wind turbine project and nearest residence

Local: other concerns Environmental impacts: Financial impacts: Shadow flickering or reflected light on rotating of wind turbine blades Birds Land use (1% of the land area) Financial impacts: Perceived negative impact on residential property values Two important conclusions from RICS study (2007): >1 mile: no change in property prices <1 mile: negative impact most noticeable for detached and semi-detached houses

Local: public attitude surveys In countries that exploit largest wind power resources, support for wind power is relatively high Public acceptance tends to increase when wind farms are implemented -> U-shape People that live near wind turbines are more in favour than the general public

Public support of wind energy Public involvement: Three ways: information, involvement in the decision making process, financial involvement Good practices: community wind in Germany and Denmark Careful siting of wind turbines: Consideration of the landscape: simple geometrical patterns in flat areas, following contours of the landscape in mountainous areas No optimal solution in terms of formation, number and size

National: support schemes Tenders Certificate systems Quota obligation SI Fiscal incentives Feed-in tariffs SK PL CY (LA) CZ LT MT HU EE BG RO BE UK IT SE IE FI AT DK FR DE ES PT LU GR NL

Institutional conditions Good practices of planning frameworks: Germany: spatial planning of wind farms on federal level France: “prior-to-planning” guidelines, where communities are forced to appoint zones for wind developments Planning guidelines SEI (Ireland): guidelines for wind farm development

Overall conclusions Local acceptance of wind is rather subjective and new wind projects will continue to meet resistance in the future National and local governments have important roles in developing a vision on wind turbine siting A range of wind energy support policies are in place – feed-in tariffs have proven to be effective in the countries with high deployment of wind energy (Denmark, Germany, Spain) Planning frameworks become crucial with more wind capacity to be implemented