Attitude and Acceptance of Offshore Wind Farms – The Influence of Travel Time and Wind Farm Attributes

Abstract

Generally people are more positive towards offshore wind farms compared to on-land wind farms. However, the attitudes are commonly assumed to be independent of experience with wind farms. Important relations between attitude and experience might therefore be disregarded. The present paper gives a novel contribution to this field. First of all, we give a thorough review of the studies that have analysed the relation between experience with wind turbines and attitude. In addition, we supplement the review by analysing the effect of travel distance to the nearest offshore wind farm and the wind farms attributes on attitude toward offshore wind farms. The results point towards that the travel time and the attributes of the nearest offshore wind farm influence the attitude significantly. Travel time has mixed effects on the attitude, whilst offshore wind farms with many turbines generate more positive attitudes compared to wind farms with fewer turbines.