Competing land-use pressures in Norway: Examining the integration of nature protection concerns in windpower licenses

The conflicts and potential trade-off between greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions and nature protection are evident in policies aimed at promoting renewable energy. This project focuses on how this trade-off is handled in Norwegian windpower development. We have examined all windpower licenses granted and rejected in Norway to identify how nature protection concerns and the cumulative effects of several plants, extensive new access roads and grid connections have been treated. This examination of aggregate trends formed the basis for further analysis, including examinations of formal and informal stakeholder influence in the licensing process. Ultimately, the project seeks to understand to what extent and how the political objectives of windpower development and nature protection in Norway can be combined, particularly in regions under high pressure from human activities. To this end, we have also examined how legal frameworks and licensing processes can be improved to consider the environmental and cumulative impacts of windpower projects more effectively. The Norwegian windpower licensing process follows two main acts: The Energy Act (1990) and the Planning and Building Act (2008). In addition, there are relevant directives under the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) that are important. The two acts differ significantly in terms of their basic starting points and institutional affiliation. One study discusses how tasks are distributed among authorities at the national, regional and local levels under the rules. This study discusses issues associated with lack of implementation of rules on environmental impact assessments, inadequate and outdated guidelines for those wanting to construct wind power, and the partly failed efforts to adopt regional plans for windpower developments. The project shows that the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) has considerable room for discretion in the exercise of its licensing authority and that there is often a lack of transparency and predictability associated with environmental assessments. It is unclear exactly how the NVE weighs nature concerns and cumulative impacts in its final determination about whether to grant a permit. The agency cannot issue windpower permits in protected areas, but the decision is much harder to predict when the project may conflict with an Eagle Owl habitat, migratory birds, mires, wetlands, meadows, or other valuable habitats. Because such decision-making guidelines are inadequate or lacking, the NVE has significant discretion in making licensing decisions. For both windpower developers and windpower opponents, it is unfortunate that it is hard to predict the outcome of seemingly similar windpower applications. We also find that municipalities and landowners have a great deal of influence on the outcome of the licensing process, and that the municipal council as a consultation body in practice has been an informal veto power in the process. The windpower municipalities feel that the licensing process generally is fair, but they are often dissatisfied with the planning process that follows due to very restricted municipal participation. The property tax is a corner stone for formal acceptance in the municipality, but municipalities hosting windpower plants feel short-changed compared to municipalities that gain much higher tax incomes from hosting hydropower. A quantitative analysis confirms the results from the qualitative studies. The study is based on a statistical analysis of the weight given to nature protection and the position of local authorities on Norwegian windpower license decisions. The findings show that environmental impact assessments and municipal positions on windpower development strongly influence the likelihood of being granted a licence. High environmental impact of a project reduces the likelihood of a licence being granted. The position of the host municipality on a windpower project application has an even stronger influence on the licencing outcome for that project. The analysis shows that the municipalities are de facto veto players in the licensing process. Conversely, a clearly positive municipality increases the likelihood of a license being granted. This is also a very strong effect, but not as strong as the veto effect in the case of municipalities opposed to windpower development. The project has also compared the licensing procedure for windpower plants in Sweden and Norway and analyzed how the Swedish municipal "veto rule" is used in practice and the debate about this rule. This comparative study and the project more generally show that national planning instruments should be combined with greater opportunities for municipalities to influence the siting and planning of windpower plants.

Gjennom prosjektet er det etablert en kjernekompetanse på vindkraftpolitikk og konsesjonsordningen ved FNI og hos våre samarbeidspartnere og brukere. Et sentralt mål med prosjektet har vært å stille kritiske spørsmål til dagens konsesjonsordning med tanke på å identifisere muligheter for forbedringer. Som et ledd i dette har vi vært aktive i å formidle funn fra prosjektet til forvaltningsorganer, interessegrupper og offentligheten. Prosjektet har hatt stor betydning for samfunnsdebatten om vindkraft, miljøhensyn og lokal medvirkning. Prosjektet har også påvirket norsk politikkutforming. Flere av våre forslag til endringer av konsesjonsbehandlingen er innarbeidet i Vindkraftmeldingen (Meld. St. 28, 2019-2020). I november 2020 besluttet Stortinget å be regjeringen om å fremme forslag om å innlemme planlegging og bygging av vindkraftanlegg i plan- og bygningsloven. Sentrale politiske aktører har bekreftet at resultater fra prosjektet har hatt betydning for denne beslutningen.

This project will examine the integration of nature protection concerns in all windpower licensing processes and outcomes in Norway, with a particular focus on cumulative land-use effects. We will first map and analyze aggregate trends in the integration of nature concerns in windpower licensing. This examination will form the basis for the analysis conducted in the subsequent work packages. Second, we will examine the extent to which relevant Norwegian policies and regulatory frameworks have been affected by the EU and international environmental treaties. Sweden, as an EU member state, will be analysed as a contrast case. Third, we will examine the role and influence of the central government in Norway for how nature protection concerns have been integrated in windpower projects. Changes in policies and regulatory frameworks in the period 2000-2015 will be investigated and compared with patterns identified in outcome (integration of nature protection concerns in licenses) in the first work package. Fourth, we have selected two Norwegian regions as cases, in the south-west and mid-Norway, respectively. The two regions are typical national high-pressure areas left with patch islands of interference free areas (INON-areas). These two regions will be used to examine the factors that influence the integration of nature protection concerns in windpower licenses at the regional and local levels, and to assess specifically how cumulative effects of new windpower projects affects and have been addressed in past and ongoing windpower licensing processes. Fifth, we will examine how legal frameworks and licensing processes more effectively can take into account the cumulative effects of windpower projects in high land-use pressure areas. Ultimately, the project seeks to understand whether and how the political objectives of windpower development and nature protection in Norway can be combined, particularly in regions under high pressure from human activities.