Acceptance through inclusion? Political and economic participation and the acceptance of local renewable energy projects in Switzerland

Abstract

In the wake of transitioning from fossil and nuclear energy systems to a renewable energy age, industrialized countries face many challenges related to the question of how to politically implement local renewable energy projects. In the present paper, we investigate if local populations are more likely to support local infrastructure projects if they are economically and politically involved in said projects. We collected data from a representative sample of 4,141 individuals in Switzerland and use conjoint analysis to examine citizens’ general preference patterns with regards to the design of localized renewable energy projects and related processes. The study goes beyond previous research by more systematically comparing the specific modes of political and economic participation and their effect on the acceptance of local renewable energy projects and by considering that political and economic participation may play a different role for different population groups. We find moderate positive effects of political and economic participation on individual support for RET projects. However, not all modes of inclusion are equally effective and the results reveal that individuals’ general propensity to support or oppose such projects moderates the relationship between political and economic participation and local acceptance.