Linking the public acceptance of wind power to technology deployment

Abstract

Public acceptance and positive media image are the key features of any technology market deployment. This paper analyses the media image of wind power and the link between the media image of a technology, public acceptance and thus, successful market deployment. Indeed, the increase in wind power plants has been influenced by increased off-shore technology developments as well as subsidies and greater acceptance of the technology. This paper focuses on the latter by undertaking opinion mining approach with machine learning-based media analysis. For the paper, media sentiment analysis of both editorial and social media was conducted using an M-Adaptive tool for media monitoring. The results indicate that the sentiment toward wind power is primarily positive in both editorial publications and social media (SoMe), and also at the project level of offshore projects. The role of SoMe seems to be increasing for public acceptance issues. When considering the effect of global climate negotiations, namely, Paris COP21, the United Nations conference on climate change, the effect on wind power was mostly negative in terms of the communication quantity and overall media sentiment.