Wind developers are getting inventive with schemes to improve community acceptance, but they need help with regulations
BACKYARD BRAWLS
Despite major outreach efforts by developers, wind projects still face opposition LOCAL HERO
An increased focus on the economic and social benefits of nearby wind projects can help bring the locals on board KEY QUOTE
We only want to build projects in areas where we have local support
Year-round visitors to the Gulf of Roses enjoy scenery that has seen the enclave crowned as one of the most beautiful bays in the world. But an ugly clash is brewing in this idyllic spot on the northern coast of Catalonia, Spain. Residents are angered by plans to install up to 65 250-metre-tall offshore wind turbines in waters 15 kilometres from the coast. “Locals haven’t been consulted,” says Gemma, who operates a diving centre in the bay. The Spanish press reported that local opposition to the Parc Tramuntana offshore wind project is growing even though its Spanish developers, Sener and Bluefloat Energy, have yet to begin applying for permits. Local opposition to wind projects is a challenge across many European markets. It could even put some nations in danger of missing decarbonisation goals. In the UK, for instance, “if the current [offshore] development pipeline is further delayed at all, the country will not meet its 2030 targets,” says Martin Dronfield at Opergy, a UK-based business consultancy firm. In October 2020, UK prime minister Boris Johnson unveiled plans to make the country a “world leader in green energy” with a new target of 40 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030. That is a stretch from the roughly 10 GW of offshore wind capacity in British waters at the end of 2020. It requires projects to be permitted and built at breakneck speed but local opposition is creating delays. In February, planning permission for Vattenfall’s 1.8 GW Norfolk Vanguard project, off England’s east coast, was withdrawn after a high court ruling on a case that was brought by a single objector. Such incidents are a worry for an industry that works hard to cultivate local opinion and generally enjoys high levels of public support. MORE WIND, PLEASE In the UK, 70% support onshore wind and 76% are in favour of offshore projects, according to a May 2021 poll by the government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. On the continent, meanwhile, industry body WindEurope reports that between 75% and 80% of Europeans want more wind. A May YouGov poll by the UK’s renewables trade association RenewableUK found living next to a wind farm did not diminish support for industry. People whose homes were within eight kilometres of a wind farm were just as supportive as those living further away, with support continuing to grow: 33% of Britons have a more positive opinion of onshore wind now than they did five years ago, the YouGov poll found. “People want us to build back better after the pandemic and create high-quality jobs which protect our precious natural environment,” says RenewableUK’s Robert Norris. But despite this generally positive sentiment, the Norfolk Vanguard lawsuit shows it only takes one disgruntled member of the public to put a wind project in jeopardy. Having to deal with these people is a common event. “It’s fair to say that the majority of projects get some sort of pushback,” says Christoph Zipf of WindEurope. Over the years, developers have learned this to their cost and now take steps in an attempt to keep the peace with the locals. This process starts with public meetings and exhibitions at which developers set out their plans, says Norris. Face-to-face meetings are complemented with images, videos and documents online so the local community has ample opportunity to comment on proposals in what is frequently a lengthy consultation period. “The views of local people are very important to us,” says Norris. “We only want to build projects in areas where we have local support.” PERMITTING PROBLEMS The aim of these engagement exercises is to smooth the permitting process and, above all, limit the risk of legal challenges. Permitting delays are not good news in a sector where it typically takes several years to get a licence. The average in Germany is around three years, says Zipf, but in at least one project permitting delays have lasted for a decade. Under such circumstances, “I don’t think these developers are actually going to build [the project] because under their permit they would have [to use] turbine technology from ten years ago,” Zipf adds. Given the increasing length of permitting timelines, this is a common complaint among developers and it is slowing the industry’s growth. It is even more problematic when legal action overturns a permit, as was the case with Norfolk Vanguard. This forces the developer (Vattenfall in Norfolk Vanguard’s case) to go through an appeals procedure, potentially introduce remedial measures and most likely apply for a new permit. All this adds further delays to the project. 
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS Some of the measures that may have to be put in place, such as agreeing to stop operating turbines to allow for the passage of migrating birds, can also affect the financial viability of the plant. Lawsuits are generally based on environmental concerns with wind farm objectors often turning out to be well informed and organised. When it comes to the environment it is clear local issues, such as protecting rare species, often exceed the value that wind power generation projects can offer in meeting the global challenge of climate change. Because of this, moves to foster wind power acceptance tend to focus less on the sustainability benefits of projects and more on their potential to attract investment and create jobs. Boris Johnson’s green energy plan was framed not only as an important step in cutting net emissions to zero by 2050 but also as a way of creating up to 60,000 direct and indirect jobs. “Offshore wind is regenerating [the UK’s] coastal areas by providing an economic lifeline for communities which need new opportunities,” says RenewableUK’s Norris. LOCAL ECONOMY The economic benefits of the wind industry were highlighted in an October 2020 report from WindEurope. It notes that the wind sector employs 300,000 people in Europe, pays €5 billion in taxes and contributes €37 billion to the EU’s gross domestic product. “Wind farms are located in rural, often remote, areas with low investment activity,” says the report. “The benefits created by wind farms are key to these communities which may have been cut off from the faster growing metropolitan areas that have benefitted more from the globalised economy,” it adds. Wind power is a major contributor to local finances in some rural parts of Europe. In some municipalities of Galicia in northwest Spain, for instance, wind farm taxes make up as much as 90% of local administration revenues. In Ireland, the wind industry pays €42.5 million a year in taxes to local councils. This income represents 22% of total commercial rates in County Leitrim and 15% in County Tipperary. But these contributions, while significant, may not be evident to local inhabitants. Hence, many wind farm developers strive to provide more direct benefits to the communities they operate in. In particular, the need for wind farm developers to rely on local workers for project construction and maintenance helps to build strong bonds with the community. COMMUNITY SUPPORT In a bid to foster local goodwill beyond the promise of jobs and tax revenue, some developers see value in supporting local populations in more imaginative ways. WindEurope’s October report cites the case of a wind farm operator in Puglia, southern Italy. The company, Lucky Wind, funded an expansion of a local hospital’s intensive care unit in March 2020, as Covid-19 ripped through the community where the developer had been operating wind projects since the 1990s. Meanwhile, Spanish developer Acciona has a social impact management programme, worth €12.5 million in 2019, for infrastructure projects, social welfare schemes, volunteering, community activities and health and education campaigns. Elsewhere, the 84 megawatt (MW) Sa Turrina Manna Wind Park in Tula, Sardinia, has been paying 2% of gross revenues to the municipality since the project was commissioned in 2010. After consulting with the community, this money was put towards tax cuts and other benefits. As a result, 1,600 Tula households pay no personal income or real estate tax and local children benefit from €400,000 in grants and education funding, among other financial incentives. One final way of getting local inhabitants on side is to make them co-owners of a project. In Germany, developer RWE Renewables formed a joint venture with the city of Bedburg for the construction and operation of the 67 MW Königshovener Höhe wind farm. The city holds a 49% participation in the project. Related to co-ownership, community ownership is an established concept in markets such as Germany and the Netherlands and almost certainly helps to foster local acceptance of wind energy. However, German attempts to encourage community projects by relaxing permitting requirements led to a slump in installation rates in 2019 as developers dawdled over red tape. WARY COMMUNITIES Even Germany’s community-friendly regulation did little to stop opposition from well-organised anti-wind groups such as Vernunftkraft and Deutsche Wildtierstiftung. This highlights a big challenge for the wind industry in Europe: while people living close to wind farms get to see the benefits first-hand, that does not necessarily help with permitting efforts for projects in communities wary of the industry. Regulatory frameworks can sometimes make things worse. The Norfolk Vanguard court case, for instance, was brought by a man whose house was close to the wind farm’s proposed grid connection landing point—but British regulations effectively make it impossible for developers to share connections. This means many more cases could emerge as Britain strives to reach its 40 GW target and the coast fills up with export cables. “I have a great deal of sympathy for many of these individuals and small community action groups, because these are serious construction projects that are going through their wonderful [local] environments,” Opergy’s Dronfield says. Dronfield believes there is scope for change within the UK regulation to help solve these opposition issues but not in the timeframe required to meet the country’s renewables capacity target. This slow pace of regulatory adjustment is seen as a major barrier to wind development in other markets such as Germany, where permitting rules have been blamed for cratering onshore installation rates. A new German renewable energy law this year failed to address permitting and repowering regulation issues, according to WindEurope. Meanwhile, there are signs developers may be tiring of pushing for projects in markets where regulation is difficult. In 2020, Italian authorities ran an auction for 500 MW of wind power capacity yet ended up awarding only 406 MW. “The primary reason for the under subscription is Italy’s cumbersome and lengthy permitting process,” WindEurope said at the time. In a bid to try to reconcile the conflict between regulations, developers and communities, some local authorities are taking matters into their own hands. The German region of Thuringia established five transparency, process and financial guidelines for wind farm developers wanting a “fair wind energy” label to signal their commitment to local communities. Developers see it as a valuable addition to their community efforts, with 50 companies picking up the label since 2015. And in France, where far-right politician Marine Le Pen has accused the wind industry of being a scam, a growing number of territories are aiming to boost renewable energy adoption, but without deeper commitment from governments and regulatory bodies it remains uncertain whether European nations will meet their 2050 goals. “We will have to find ways for wind to co-exist with infrastructures, local communities, municipalities, protected areas and all of those things if we want to achieve this,” WindEurope’s Zipf says. “The worry we have is that if projects get delayed, we don’t get enough permits or sites are permanently blocked by opposition, we will not deliver these volumes by 2050. We will fall way short.”•
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Jason Deign