WINDPLAN: Public participation in wind power: challenges and opportunities

Energy has become an increasingly important political issue in recent years. Understandings of energy's social significance and social mission have changed over time both nationally and internationally. For several decades, energy was positioned as the most important key to achieving climate change and sustainable development. Norway has, however experienced major controversies between renewable energy development and the impact on nature and the environment, and regulative processes and framework conditions for wind power have been exposed to extensive criticism. From 2019 to 2022, all wind power concessions were put on hold in Norway. The research project WINDPLAN has analyzed national policy and local community experiences with wind power development processes. Our research shows that local authorities and politicians have experienced being in a pressurized political space in wind power processes. Firstly, they have experienced an uncertainty related to their formal decision-making authority regarding wind power planning in their municipality. Secondly, they have experienced a pressure from developers, landowners and at times from national energy authorities to develop wind power. Thirdly, they have experienced major conflicts between various actors in the local community, which have influenced the political space in the local community. Our research shows that municipal actors and citizens have particularly addressed a relative injustice linked to the distribution of burdens and benefits, and the procedural legitimacy and trust to national authorities. In addition they questioned the need for more renewable energy in Norway. However, interviews with actors in several municipalities show that wind power is also linked to ideas about opportunities for rural development and supporting service provision, jobs and other economic activities. This is especially considered if there were better conditions for the distribution of power and economic earnings. Over the past three years, extensive political work has been done to change both procedural and distributional framework conditions for wind power. There has been a tightening of license conditions, a production tax has been introduced, and a ground rent tax is under consultation. At the same time, the issue of wind power has become addressed a new as a result of developments in the energy situation nationally and internationally. Internationally, the growing energy crisis primarily due to conflict between Russia and Europe. Nationally, there is an increasing need for energy related to the electrification of transport and new power-intensive industry related to e.g. hydrogen and batteries. The overall societal context in 2022 is thus significantly different from the situation in 2019. From being primarily a climate policy argument, wind power in 2022 is also largely a security policy – and a means of ensuring Norwegian competitiveness and jobs.

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If wind power development is thought to contribute to climate emission reduction and energy transitions, there is a need to understand why renewable energy ideals meet local opposition, and if alternative policy frameworks and more democratic planning practices could improve policy legitimacy - and as such social acceptability of wind power development. Wind power development is highly conflictual and Norway is lagging behind other countries. Existing and increasingly hierarchical governance responses have not been able to answer these challenges. On the contrary international research indicates that increased hierarchical steering may themselves have been part of the conflict. The dilemma thereby appears as a contradiction between high governmental support for renewable energy and local opposition and rejection of proposed projects. Despite the scale of the problem, there is a lack of in-depth knowledge on public acceptance and opinions of wind power in current Norwegian social research. The aim of WINDPLAN is to broaden our understanding of current wind power development conflicts in Norway. The study critically explores current wind power development in Norway between policies, planning rationalities and local community understandings, and analyzes how existing arenas for public participation are framed, filled, opened and closed in national policy discourses and in actual case studies of wind power planning. To understand the dynamics of social acceptability, the project learns from policy development in EU, UK and DK as well as case studies in Denmark and Scotland where different policy trajectories and experimental approaches to wind power development have developed high social acceptability. The findings form basis for a collaborative research dialogue workshop with policy-makers developers, local officials and citizens from DK, Scotland and Norway exploring new potential conceptual models for public participation in Norwegian wind power development.