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Eidgenssisches Departement frUmwelt, Verkehr, Energie und Kommunikation UVEK

Bundesamt fr Energie BFE

Renewable Energies Section

571 - Windenergie allgemein 003803770C:\Documents and Settings\u80737436\Local Settings\Application Data\Panagon\Social Acceptance of Wind Energy inSwitzerland - Full Pa

March 17, 2008March 17, 2008

Social Acceptance of Wind Energy in Switzerland a Concept andits Application in SwitzerlandSocial Acceptance of Wind Energy in Switzerland a Concept andits Application in Switzerland

Markus Geissmann, Swiss Federal Office of Energy, CH-3003 Berne, Switzerlandmarkus.geissmann(at)bfe.admin.ch, Phone +41 31 322 56 10

Abstract

Social Acceptance is crucial for a broad development of wind energy and for a high investment security, but aclear definition of the term is rarely given. A recently published concept of social acceptance lists the accep-

tance issues related with renewable energy projects. This list and its underlying concept have been used toassess the general situation of social acceptance of wind energy in Switzerland. In a following step the keyissues for the development of wind energy in Switzerland have been defined and rated on the basis of theircurrent situation. Any key issue with an rating below average represents a hindrance to the desired develop-ment and calls for an action to improve its situation. National and international research projects are thus pro-posed to gain the knowledge or to develop the instruments necessary for an efficient and durable developmentof wind energy in Switzerland.

This paper aims at determining the critical elements for the development of wind energy in Switzerlandin the field of social acceptance and to derive from these elements the needs of action for researchand marketing projects of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.

A Concept of Social AcceptanceSocial acceptance is an often used term, but clear definitions are rarely given. Wstenhagen et al. [1]distinguish three dimensions of social acceptance, namely socio-political acceptance, market accep-tance and community acceptance. All three, sometimes interdependent categories of social accep-tance, can be arranged in a triangle shape (Fig. 1), where socio-political and market acceptance arelocated on the societal level, while community acceptance is more related to the specific project level.

Project level

Societal level Socio-politicalacceptance Market acceptance

Community

acceptance

Figure 1

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Socio-political acceptance is social acceptance on the most general level and includes: acceptance of technologies acceptance of policies acceptance by the public acceptance by key stakeholders acceptance by policy makers

Market acceptance means the process of market adoption of an innovation and includes: acceptance by consumers acceptance by investors intra-firm acceptance

Community acceptance refers to the acceptance of a specific project and includes: procedural justice distributional justice trust

ProcedureTo determine the critical elements for the development of wind energy in Switzerland, their currentsituation and the consequential needs of action, I have proceeded as follows:

1. concretize the meaning of the social acceptance terms

2. assess the acceptance issues regarding to their meaning for the social acceptance of wind energyin Switzerland

3. define the key issues4. assess current situation of key issues5. define needs of action regarding the situation of key issues6. approaches to improve the situation of key issues

Situation of social acceptance issues in SwitzerlandThis chapter aims to concretize the meaning of the social acceptance terms listed above and to de-

termine their current situation in Switzerland:

acceptance of technologies means the general acceptance of wind energy. To deal with this issue, itis necessary to look at distinctive features of wind energy technology. I therefore define three maincharacteristics of modern wind energy technology:

a) wind energy represented by the picture of the three blade turbineb) wind energy in its spatial configuration as wind park or as a single turbinec) the dimension of wind energy turbines

Different societal groups in Switzerland have different attitudes towards these characteristics:

General Public High acceptance of wind energy but scepticism towards large wind farms asin Germany or Spain. Sympathies for small as for industrial sized wind tur-bines as well.

Utility Companies Scepticism towards wind energy because of limited potential and stochasticproduction pattern. Utilites which invest in wind energy start with single tur-bines to test profit and acceptance. Small turbines are sometimes erected

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for image purposes only.SFOE Wind energy is a part of the future energy mix. There is an official target for

wind energy production 2010. The Wind Energy Concept for Switzerland[2] defines the spatial concentration of large turbines as a principle for thedevelopment of wind energy in Switzerland.

Environmental NGOs Most NGOs accept wind energy in its industrial form if it respects environ-mental issues. A single landscape protecting agency totally rejects windenergy use in Switzerland.

Cantons (States) The spatial planning and the granting of building permits for wind energyprojects is done on the cantonal (state) level in Switzerland. Most cantonsare currently developing siting criteria or are in the process of defining windenergy zones in their directive plans.

acceptance of policies reflects how wind energy is supported or hindered by current laws and regu-lations on national and regional levels:On the national level, the energy act grants cost covering feed-in tariffs for all renewable energiesstarting January 1st, 2009 [7]. There is a promotional program (SwissEnergy) and a R&D programboth for all renewable energies conducted by the SFOE. Support for wind energy sums up to 0.3 Mio for promotion and 0.22 Mio for R&D in 2008 which is a modest sum compared with the support forPV and biomass respectively. In 2004, SFOE has published a Wind Energy Concept for Switzerland[2] as a guideline for developers and authorities. Environmental protection has a strong position inSwiss regulations and so have environmental NGOs.On the cantonal (state) level, there are a number of support programs for renewable energies but theyfocus on technologies related to buildings (heating, cooling, efficiency). Most cantons are currentlydeveloping siting criteria or are in the process of defining wind energy zones in their directive plans.

acceptance by the publicdefines the general standing of the broad public towards wind energy usein Switzerland. A public opinion poll on behalf of the SFOE [5] resulted in

89% supporting the use of wind energy in Switzerland 73% would not mind living in the vicinity of a wind park 57% when asked about Renewable Energy thinking of wind energy first

Fundamental wind energy opponents are mostly related to landscape and heritage protection NGOs.They support local opposition groups and run a well organized anti-wind energy network.

acceptance by key stakeholders is dominated by the role of the big utility companies as investors,operators, traders and distributors of wind energy. A few utility companies are currently operating windenergy turbines or have declared that they are willing to do so, while the majority takes a very criticalattitude towards wind energy in Switzerland. There is a number of otherindustry companies active inthe world wide wind energy sector (raw materials and glues for turbine blades, power electronics andproject developers). As a whole, the wind energy sector plays a minor role for the Swiss industry.SFOEs promoting programme SwissEnergy is the strongest advocate of the development of windenergy in Switzerland. Most environmental NGOs vote in favor for environmental-friendly develop-ment of wind energy.

acceptance by policy makers reflects the attitude ofauthorities, political parties and lobbying

organizations towards wind energy in Switzerland. SFOE and most energy authorities on the can-tonal (state) level strongly support wind energy and are in favor of a supporting legal framework.Among the political parties energy is a contentious issue. The development of renewable energies ingeneral is supported by most parties with a focus on hydropower and biomass. There is an umbrella

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organization uniting all renewable energy business associations which is lobbying in favor of renew-able energy friendly legal framework. Its influence on the political agenda has been negligible so far.

acceptance by consumers; in 2006 more than 90% of the Swiss electricity consumers have had thepossibility to buy green electricity from their local electricity supplier. 8% of all consumers did so andordered mostly hydropower or a product mixed of renewable electricity [6]. Starting on January 1st2009 there will be fixed feed-in tariffs for all renewable energies in Switzerland. The resulting surpluscosts will be evenly spread among all electricity consumers.

acceptance by investors; in 2006 91% of the wind power installed were owned by utility companies.Wind energy projects in development show that utility companies play a key role in wind energy de-velopment in Switzerland. Up to now banking or insurance companies did not invest in swiss wind

energy projects.

intra-firm acceptance plays an important role especially in the behavior of large energy firms when itcomes to investment decisions related to renewable energy projects. Some firms are developing andoperating wind energy plants while on the political level they oppose the promotion of decentralizedenergy production. This might point to a non consistent perception and valuation of wind energy withinthe same energy company.

procedural justice deals with the decision making process. Have the people affected by a wind en-ergy project had the opportunity to participate in the decision making process? Are the outcomes ofthis process perceived to be fair? The legal framework of a siting decision guarantees a minimum

standard of procedural justice. Still this does not make sure for theperception of a fair decision proc-ess and there is a large scope in designing a participation process beyond the minimum legal stan-dards.

distributional justice stands for the fair sharing of benefits and nuisances, profits and costs betweenthe people and parties affected by a wind energy project. Usually it is the estate owner who gets ashare of the operating benefit. In Switzerland the land lots are often small and thus the neighboringland owners are affected by a wind park in their vicinity (visibility, prevention of wind turbines on hisown lot) in a negative way only. The community gets affected by the use of its road network and theimpact on the landscape while it is also possible that the wind park generates value added locally.

trustis especially important if it is to develop a locally unknown technology. The developing company

has to win the hearts and minds of the affected community so they have confidence in it.

Key Issues for acceptance of wind energy in SwitzerlandWhich of the social acceptance issues described above is crucial for the development of wind energyin Switzerland? The following table defines the key issues and gives reasons for the choice:

Acceptance Issues Key issue Justification

of wind energy tech-nology

No General acceptance of wind energy is high. The principle of con-centrating industrial sized wind turbines in small wind parks is

highly accepted.of policies Yes Laws and regulations in the domains of energy, spatial planning

and environmental protection make up the framework for thedevelopment of wind energy.

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Acceptance Issues Key issue Justificationby the public No The background of global warming and rising oil and natural gas

prices gives rise to a broad acceptance of the necessity to de-velop renewable energies including wind energy.

by key stakeholders Yes Wind energy is at present not known in Switzerland. For the im-plementation phase, the support of the wind energy by authori-ties, home industries and environmental NGOs is important.

by policy makers Yes Policy makers as preparers of policies (see above) play an im-portant role.

by consumers No Only a small fraction of consumers calls for green electricity. Inthe system of cost covering feed-in tariffs the consumer plays anminor role.

by investors Yes Investors willing to invest in wind energy projects in Switzerlanddespite the risk of a difficult realization process are crucial to thedevelopment of wind energy.

Intra-firm Yes Utility companies play an important role as investors for windenergy projects. Opinions towards wind energy within singlecompanies and within the utility sector are strongly divided.

procedural justice Yes Experiences out of swiss projects as well as international studies[3] show the importance of procedural fairness on the local level.

distributional justice Yes One must assume that distributional fairness plays an equallyimportant role as procedural fairness does in the implementationprocess of a wind energy project. There is little experience in thewind energy sector in Switzerland but the hydropower sector hasestablished a distributional mechanism called hydro interestpayments (Wasserzins) which compensates the affectedcommunities for the use of their running water.

Trust No Trust between affected communities, investors and authoritiesplays an important role but can be treated under the proceduraland distributional issues.

Assessment of the current situation of key issuesNow that we know the key elements for the development of wind energy in Switzerland, the next step

is to assess the situation of these key elements. To do this, I have rated the situation of the key ele-ments based on the reflections above from 6 (ideal situation, no need for improvements) to 1 (verybad situation). The following graph (Figure 2) depicts the current ratings of the key elements:The key issues in Figure 2 are rated from 1 (very bad situation) to 6 (ideal situation). Assuming that arating below 4 (medium situation, red line in Figure 2) means that the situation of this key issue mustbe improved to develop wind energy in Switzerland, we find a need of action to improve the followingissues:

Policies on the state level Acceptance by investors Intra-firm acceptance

Procedural justice Distributional justice

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1

2

3

4

5

6Federal policies

Policies on state level

Acceptance by key Stakehold

Acceptance by policy makers

Acceptance by investors

Intra-firm acceptance

Procedural justice

Distributional justice

Figure 2

Approaches to improve the situation of key issuesApproaches to improve the situation of key issuesIn this final chapter, I propose possible approaches for improvement of the key issues which havebeen rated below average:In this final chapter, I propose possible approaches for improvement of the key issues which havebeen rated below average:

Policies on state level: It is mainly the non satisfactory situation of the spatial development plans onthe state level which accounts for the low rating of this key issue. The SFOE in collaboration with theFederal Offices for Spatial Development and for the Environment and with Suisse Eole, the associa-tion for the promotion of wind energy in Switzerland, has formed a working group who aims to furtherdevelop the Wind Energy Concept for Switzerland [2] as a base for the spatial planning on the statelevel. Talks with representatives of the states showed that such aid is highly welcome.

Policies on state level: It is mainly the non satisfactory situation of the spatial development plans onthe state level which accounts for the low rating of this key issue. The SFOE in collaboration with theFederal Offices for Spatial Development and for the Environment and with Suisse Eole, the associa-tion for the promotion of wind energy in Switzerland, has formed a working group who aims to furtherdevelop the Wind Energy Concept for Switzerland [2] as a base for the spatial planning on the statelevel. Talks with representatives of the states showed that such aid is highly welcome.

Acceptance by investors: Up to now, utility companies represent the vast majority of wind energyinvestors in Switzerland. It is essential for a durable development of wind energy to expand this circleof investors by attracting institutional investors on one hand and encourageing local participation mod-els which are an important factor in the distributional fairness issue - as well. To know more aboutthe decisional processes of institutional investors, SFOE in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Insti-tute of Technology in Lausanne EPFL is carrying out a research project investigating two questions: 1)Why do investors finance wind energy projects in Switzerland? Why not? 2) If they do not finance pro-jects in Switzerland, what changes (policy framework, planning procedures, etc.) would investors liketo see to change their minds? This research project is running until spring 2009.

Acceptance by investors: Up to now, utility companies represent the vast majority of wind energyinvestors in Switzerland. It is essential for a durable development of wind energy to expand this circleof investors by attracting institutional investors on one hand and encourageing local participation mod-els which are an important factor in the distributional fairness issue - as well. To know more aboutthe decisional processes of institutional investors, SFOE in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Insti-tute of Technology in Lausanne EPFL is carrying out a research project investigating two questions: 1)Why do investors finance wind energy projects in Switzerland? Why not? 2) If they do not finance pro-jects in Switzerland, what changes (policy framework, planning procedures, etc.) would investors liketo see to change their minds? This research project is running until spring 2009.

Intra-firm acceptance: Swiss utility companies seem to have a non consistent attitude towards windenergy within their own company. While some of them invest in wind energy or run their own turbines,most utilities offer green electricity products wind energy being part of them to their customers. Onthe other hand most utility companies tend to favor centralized production structures and they arespeaking up for big nuclear or fossil power plants. The institute for Economy and Environment of theUniversity of St.Gallen, Switzerland has expressed its interest to initiate research activities in this field.

Intra-firm acceptance: Swiss utility companies seem to have a non consistent attitude towards windenergy within their own company. While some of them invest in wind energy or run their own turbines,most utilities offer green electricity products wind energy being part of them to their customers. Onthe other hand most utility companies tend to favor centralized production structures and they arespeaking up for big nuclear or fossil power plants. The institute for Economy and Environment of theUniversity of St.Gallen, Switzerland has expressed its interest to initiate research activities in this field.

Procedural justice: Existing laws and regulations ensure a minimum of procedural justice in theprocess of spatial planning and approval of the building permit for a wind energy project. In parallel tothis official path there is a decision making process to define the final properties (number, dimension,

Procedural justice: Existing laws and regulations ensure a minimum of procedural justice in theprocess of spatial planning and approval of the building permit for a wind energy project. In parallel tothis official path there is a decision making process to define the final properties (number, dimension,

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location of turbines, etc.) of the project. The kind and depth of participation of the local community inthis non official decision making process is variable. There is strong evidence that the modalities of theparticipation of the local community have a direct influence on the local acceptance of the project. Tolearn more, the SFOE has co-organized two international workshops on the issue of social acceptance[2], [4]. Further, there is a SFOE research project being launched which aims to develop a code ofconduct for wind project promoters to improve procedural and distributional justice. In the frameworkof the IEA Wind Energy Implementing Agreement there is Task 27 called Social Acceptance of WindEnergy Projects starting 2008. Is it its goal to collect the knowledge of social scientists in the field ofsocial acceptance mechanisms and to translate it in the language of engineers and use it as a base todevelop a best practice guide.

Distributional justice: As well as a wind energy project yields a mainly economical profit for some

people, it brings economical or other disadvantages for further private or public bodies in a number ofways. Existing laws cover only part of these negative effects, so not all people affected by a projecthave the legal means to call for a compensation or for participating in the benefits. A fair distribution ofbenefits and nuisances is a key element for the local acceptance of a project. IEA Wind Energy Task27 Social Acceptance of Wind Energy Projects will collect and evaluate different participation models.

The research projects described above aim to improve the situation of the key issues of wind energyand thus help to speed up the development of wind energy in Switzerland. While some research pro-jects deal with national or even regional peculiarities, most key issues should be discussed on an in-ternational level to ensure the exchange of experiences and the development of success strategies.

AcknowledgementsThe author wishes to thank Robert Horbaty and Prof. Rolf Wstenhagen for their valuable inputs andtheir efforts in reviewing this paper.

Abbreviations

ARE Amt fr Raumentwicklung (Federal Office for Spatial Development)BFE Bundesamt fr Energie (Swiss Federal Office of Energy)BUWAL Bundesamt fr Umwelt (Federal Office for the Environment)

EPFL Ecole polytechnique fdrale de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)NGO Non-Governmental OrganizationPV PhotovoltaicsR&D Research and DevelopmentSFOE Swiss Federal Office of Energy

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tice and community fairness framework to increase social acceptance. Energy Policy Vol. 35/54 International Energy Agency Implementing Agreement Wind Turbine Systems, 2007. 54th IEA

Topical Expert Meeting, Social Acceptance of Wind Energy Projects

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