Abstract
Pressure is mounting to build increasing numbers of wind farms in order to increase the proportion of electricity that is generated from renewable sources. Despite high levels of public support in principle, noise and visual effects frequently lead to strong NIMBY responses in the immediate locality of a proposed wind farm. Furthermore, the benefits and costs of wind farms tend to fall unevenly in the host community. Social impact assessments (SIAs) have for a long time been hampered by the lack of useful empirical data, particularly reflecting the ex-post experience of wind farm neighbours. This paper describes an ex-post survey of several hundred households living within 5 km of three operating wind farms carried out as an integral part of an SIA. Results relating to rural residents were subject to statistical significance analysis. The implications of the results of this kind of SIA work for future wind farm proposals are discussed, including the need for more ex-post investigations of actual experience.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
