In the shadow of nuclear dependency: Competing pathways and the social acceptance of offshore wind energy in France

Abstract

Opposition to offshore wind energy can cause major delays in the deployment of this technology, possibly compromising ambitious national strategies for increasing the generation of electricity to meet the net zero emissions target. However, shifting the perspective to the technology in full – from manufacturing to siting – can shed light on competing pathways where opposition coexists with acceptance, and provides a fuller understanding of place-based dependency dynamics. To apply this research agenda, this article presents a case study of France, where the first offshore wind farm is yet to be launched in 2025, in the midst of a growing controversy over the local impacts of the technology. However, France has also become a major manufacturing site for turbine and nacelle manufacturing, accounting for one-third of European industrial capacity.We use insights from social acceptance studies to offer an explanation for these contradictory paths. We study the role of scale in the social conflicts over offshore wind, showing the influence of wider place-based dependencies in the incentives hindrances to legitimacy for this technology. On the one side, local opponents to offshore wind farms deny their legitimacy on the grounds of their inadequacy within the inherited and centralized French energy system dominated by nuclear energy. Meanwhile, the development of manufacturing of offshore wind components is not questioned, and even benefits from a large support from local stakeholders. We then question the limits of current and future public engagement schemes in the context of a national energy system dominated by nuclear power.