Ownership, Stakeholding and Community Benefits: key issues for wind power

development?

Richard Cowell

School of City and Regional Planning

Cardiff University

To what extent would achieving greater flows of benefits from wind energy

– to a wider set of stakeholders – enhance

the social acceptability of wind energy

development?

A convergence of policy and academic interests:

UK government at various levels is seeking to utilise community benefits to incentivise public support for wind energy

Researchers identify patterns of ownership as a key factor in the success of wind power ‘leaders’ like Denmark and Germany

THEME 1: Does improving the flow of benefits to people in areas where wind farms are to be developed really improve social acceptability? Does this conventional view make unduly economistic assumptions about human actors?

Does it assume environmental values are tradable?

Does it assume too individualistic a frame of reference?

How do benefits, social acceptability and ‘decision rights’ all inter-relate?

THEME 2: Beyond the instrumental question - what kind of renewable energy do we want?

Connecting global and local agendas

How does renewable energy fit into local economies; new rural ‘eco-economies’

How might community benefit flows best be invested for long-term sustainability?

THEME 3: To what extent is there scope to diversify ownership, or channel more benefits to a wider range of stakeholders?The ramping up of renewable energy targets and tentative emergence of a feed-in tariff in the UK suggest more opportunities

The credit crunch, zoning-based planning and the uneven availability of financial and social capital suggest otherwise