Research Project: Local acceptance of wind energy: The effects of different financial participation models on the overall acceptance of wind projects in Switzerland Pascal Vuichard Good Energies Chair for Management of Renewable Energies Research Associate and PhD Candidate University of St. Gallen Roskilde, March 26, 2018 pascal.vuichard@unisg.ch http://goodenergies.iwoe.unisg.ch

Social acceptance of renewable energy projects in Switzerland Hydro Social acceptance of renewable energy projects in Switzerland Wind 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 Relative Importance [%] Hydro Wind While environmental impact is the #1 concern of Swiss residents, local ownership and distributional justice are important drivers of social acceptance in renewable energy projects in Switzerland. Source: Tabi & Wüstenhagen 2015 / 2017

Experimental design with focus on ownership and distributional justice Previous research has found evidence to suggest that financial participation and community ownership can positively influence social acceptance of a wind park (Toke, 2005; Hübner et al., 2013; Aitken et al., 2010; Warren and McFayden, 2010; Langer et al., 2017; Corscadden et al., 2012) Warren and McFayden (2010) compare public attitudes towards a community-owned wind farm with attitudes towards developer-owned wind farms in Scotland. They note that community ownership amplifies pre-existing positive attitudes and at the same time suppresses negative ones, ultimately resulting in community wind projects being better off in terms of social acceptance (Warren & McFayden, 2010) However, project leaders may not be willing to discuss the specifications of a community finance model with the local population during the planning process due to lack of confidence (Aitken, 2010) These conclusions propose that a better understanding of local residents’ acceptance of different specifications of community models is critically important for project developers to make informed decisions

Experimental design with focus on ownership and distributional justice Prototype Swiss „wind park“: 3 wind turbines with18 gigawatt hours of electricity production Local utility is involved as a partner in the project implementation from the regional side Procedural justice: various information events have already taken place and regular press statements are released The environmental impact assessment of the wind farm and the wind measurements were successful The wind turbines have a maximum overall height of 200 meters The planned turbines are located on agricultural land and partly in industrial and commercial zones

Experimental design: 3 specific financial participation models Wind park: share -Full participation: Risk and profit -Expected dividend 5% -Share for 500 CHF -Selling back to local utility possible at any time Wind park: resource tax -10’000 per turbine for earmarked fund -No ownership Wind park: bond -Partly participation: Risk and profit -Fixed and guaranteed interest of 2% -Bond for 500 CHF -Selling back to local utility possible at any time

What do you want to find out?   Our interest is: “How exactly should community benefits be designed in Switzerland and what influence do particular models have on the overall acceptance of a wind project” Which share of the Swiss population is willing to participate financially in wind projects? Which type of financial participation is preferred by the citizens? How does the possibility to financially participate influence the overall acceptance of wind projects?

How does it fit with Task 28? New insights on the effects of financial participation models on the overall social acceptance of wind energy projects in Switzerland, which at the moment have a rather difficult state of affairs regarding acceptance and implementation Novelty of this research project is the specific focus on different financial participation models within social acceptance research. The added value is thus created by testing realistic forms of financial participation, which would be directly applicable in practice Findings are particularly relevant for practitioners when they design wind farms. The results will be disseminated within a broad range of stakeholders using workshops / lectures / etc.