The offshore-onshore conundrum: Preferences for wind energy considering spatial data in Denmark

Abstract

Installed wind energy capacity has been increasing steadily across the world and is expected to continue to do so in the future, in response to lowering costs of technology as well as increased renewable energy goals put forth by governments. Nonetheless, public opposition has been increasing and the discussion regarding siting wind turbines onshore or offshore is consistently present in public discourse. In combining a stated preference study with spatial data processed via GIS (Geographic Information Systems), spatial preferences for onshore and offshore wind turbines are explored while considering their visual impact and costs as well as controlling for the respondents' socioeconomic characteristics. In general, respondents state strong preferences towards offshore wind turbines as opposed to onshore. Furthermore, spatial data is found to be significant with regard to the preferences of the respondents, particularly respondents' distance to the coast and potential offshore wind farms and the number of wind turbines seen from the residence and the number of turbines in the postal area. As a secondary result, findings suggest socioeconomic characteristics such as age and income are significantly related to respondents’ preferences, in line with previous research.