Local conflicts and citizen participation in the German energy transition: Quantitative findings on the relationship between conflict and participation

Abstract

The expansion of wind energy is accompanied by numerous local conflicts. Dialogue-oriented and financial citizen participation processes are seen as instruments to increase local acceptance. So far, no information is available when, how often and under which circumstances conflicts arise. Moreover, there are no quantitative empirical findings on the relationship between conflicts and participation procedures. The article addresses this research gap. Based on quantitative Data on conflicts and participation procedures in the expansion of wind energy in Lower Saxony, the article shows that local conflicts often occur where new wind farms are planned. Repowering or the expansion of existing wind farms is less likely to be accompanied by conflicts. In addition, there seems to be habituation effects. This means that in municipalities where many wind turbines are already in operation, there are fewer conflicts than in municipalities with fewer wind turbines. The multiple correlation analysis shows a clear correlation between the occurrence of local conflicts and the availability of dialogue-oriented and financial participation procedures. The question of whether the conflict is a consequence of the participation process or whether the participation process is a consequence of the conflict cannot be answered. Further research is needed to answer this question.