Abstract
The implementation of renewable energy policies is lagging behind in The Netherlands. While several Dutch cities have ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the implementation of renewable energy projects has been rather slow. The main reasons for this are the limited institutional capacities of local decision-makers, low levels of social acceptance of renewable-energy technologies, and limited opportunities for engagement of communities in decision-making processes. In order to address these issues we have developed an interactive planning support tool named COLLAGE for stakeholder participation in local renewable-energy planning. The goal of this paper is to analyze whether the COLLAGE tool helps to increase community engagement in renewable-energy projects and planning by increasing awareness and addressing social learning issues related to renewable-energy options. We tested the tool in a series of workshops with stakeholders and citizens from the city of Enschede, The Netherlands. The workshop results show that the tool helped involve stakeholders and communities in deciding where to locate renewable-energy facilities. It increased community members’ awareness of the benefits of and requirements for renewable energy by disclosing the spatial consequences of overall municipal goals. We conclude that the COLLAGE tool can be an important building block towards new local energy governance.
Highlights
Renewable energy is an important cornerstone of global and national climate change policies, such as the Paris Agreement [1] and the EU roadmap towards a competitive, low-carbon economy [2], but its implementation is lagging behind in many European countries, including The Netherlands
This report of the results from the Enschede COLLAGE workshops starts with the perceptions and preferences of the participants towards renewable energy
We distinguish between the participants who had already installed some type of renewable energy at their own home and those who had not, assuming that participants belonging to the first group have a more positive attitude, in general, towards renewable energy
Summary
Renewable energy is an important cornerstone of global and national climate change policies, such as the Paris Agreement [1] and the EU roadmap towards a competitive, low-carbon economy [2], but its implementation is lagging behind in many European countries, including The Netherlands. Socio-political acceptance refers to the public acceptance of renewable-energy technologies and policies by key stakeholders and policy actors. Community acceptance, which is typically understood as the NIMBY phenomenon, refers to the specific acceptance of siting decisions and renewable-energy projects by local stakeholders, residents and local authorities. Sovacool and Lakshmi Ratan [8] have analyzed how the acceptance of wind- and solar-energy projects depends upon the prevalence of nine interrelated factors: (1) strong institutional capacity; (2) political commitment; (3) favorable legal and regulatory frameworks; (4) competitive installation and/or production costs; (5) mechanisms for information-sharing and feedback; (6) access to financing; (7) prolific community and/or individual ownership and use; (8) participatory project siting; and (9) recognition of externalities or positive public image
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