Factors influencing the societal acceptance of new energy technologies

202 Pages·2008·1.21 MB·English

Factors influencing the societal
acceptance of new energy
technologies:
Meta-analysis of recent European
projects
Deliverable 3.1, 3.2 and 4

E. Heiskanen (NCRC), M. Hodson (SURF)
R.M. Mourik (ECN), R.P.J.M. Raven (ECN)
C.F.J. Feenstra (ECN), A. Alcantud Torrent (ECO)
B. Brohmann (OEKO), A. Daniels (OEKO)
M. Di Fiore (CERIS-CNR), B. Farkas (MAKK)
U. Fritsche (OEKO), J. Fucsko (MAKK)
K. Hünecke (OEKO), E. Jolivet (IAE)
M.H. Maack (INE), K. Matschoss (INE)
A. Oniszk-Poplawska (IEO), B.M. Poti (CERIS-CNR)
G. Prasad (UCT), B. Schaefer (ECO)
R. Willemse (ECN)

March 2008
ECN-E--07-058 1
Acknowledgement
The Create Acceptance project on ‘Cultural influences on Renewable Energy Acceptance and
Tools for the development of communication strategies to promotE ACCEPTANCE among key
actor groups’ is partially funded by the European Commission under its Sixth RTD Framework
Programme (project no 518351). The project is registered at ECN under nr. 7.7760. More
information on the project can be found on www.createacceptance.net.

For more information, please contact Ms. Ruth M. Mourik, [email protected], Energy research

Centre of the Netherlands, Policy Studies department.

Cultural Influences on Renewable Energy Acceptance and Tools for the
development of communication strategies to promotE ACCEPTANCE
among key actor groups

Project co-funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme,
(2002-2006)
2 ECN-E--07-058
SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME
PRIORITY

FP6-2004-Energy-3, SUSTDEV-1.2.8

Proposal / Contract no. 518351
Project Acronym: CREATE ACCEPTANCE
Project Full Title: Cultural influences on Renewable Energy Acceptance and Tools for the
development of communication strategies to promotE ACCEPTANCE among key actor groups

SPECIFIC TARGETED RESEARCH OR INNOVATION PROJECT
FP6-2004-Energy-3, SUSTDEV-1.2.8

Deliverable 3.1, 3.2 and 4
Factors influencing the societal
acceptance of new energy technologies:
Meta-analysis of recent
European projects

Due date of deliverable: month 19 Date of preparation: Aug. 31, 2007
Start date of project: Feb. 1, 2006 Duration: 24 months
Organisation name of lead contractor for these Revision: final version
deliverables: NCRC

Project co-funded by the European Commission within the Sixth Framework Programme
(2002-2006)
Dissemination Level PU

ECN-E--07-058 3
Contents

List of tables 6
List of figures 7
Executive summary 8
1. Introduction 17
2. Previous research on societal acceptance 19
2.1 Defining societal acceptance 19
2.2 The mainstreaming of new energy technologies: more and less
successful experiences 20
2.3 Key lessons from previous studies: factors influencing societal
acceptance 23
2.4 Summary and knowledge gaps 26
3. Researching societal acceptance: A five-step methodology 28
3.1 Technological transitions and participation 28
3.2 Four steps in researching ‘participation’ in specific renewable energy
controversies and successful deployments 31
3.3 A fifth step in researching and analysing successful or unsuccessful
projects 33
4. Meta-analysis 27 case studies of new energy projects 38
4.1 Background: challenges and conditions for new energy projects in
different parts of Europe and beyond 38
4.2 Overview of the case studies: regions, technologies, aims and
initiators 44
4.3 Types of project successfulness: process and outcome 49
4.4 Analytical framework: technology, context and alignment 54
5. Technological characteristics as factors shaping societal acceptance 56
5.1 Energy efficiency 56
5.2 Bioenergy 58
5.3 Wind energy 60
5.4 Solar energy 62
5.5 Hydrogen 64
5.6 CO capture and storage 66
2
5.7 Other new energy technologies 68
5.8 Comparison across technologies 69
6. The role of national and local context in the societal acceptance of new
energy projects 74
6.1 Defining context: what is a region? 74
6.2 Influence of national and local context on the new energy projects 76
6.2.1 Influence of national factors 77
6.2.2 Influence of local factors 84
7. Stakeholder involvement and societal acceptance of new energy
technologies 88
7.1 New energy projects as social networks 88
7.2 Project partners: bringing in resources and expectations 95
7.3 Patterns of stakeholder involvement 96
7.4 Issues arising from stakeholders’ expectations 104
7.5 Negotiating expectations and creating alignment 107
7.6 The role of the project manager 110
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8. Conclusions: challenges for new energy projects 113
9. Contribution of the report to the Create Acceptance project 120
References 122
Press and Internet sites 150
Personal communications 152
Appendix A Case studies 153
Appendix B Key energy figures for European regions and countries 154
Appendix C Indicators of public awareness of new energy issues in different
countries 168
Appendix D Highlights of energy and policy profiles of European regions and
countries 171
Appendix E Comparative data on national cultural factors 198

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List of tables
Table S.1 Overview of the cases in terms of technology and regional coverage 10
Table S.2 Factors pertaining to the national and local context influencing project success 12
Table S.3 Critical issues and success factors for different new energy technologies 13
Table S.4 Questions that can help projects to increase the likelihood of creating societal
acceptance 15

Table 4.1 South Africa: Share of final energy demand (DME, 2002) 44
Table 4.2 Overview of the cases in terms of technology and regional coverage 46
Table 4.3 Overview of case studies in terms of aims and outcomes 47
Table 4.4 Case projects with different kinds of initiators 48
Table 4.5 Overview of case study projects: successfulness in terms of outcome and
process in context 50
Table 5.1 Types of societal acceptance highlighted in the cases 70
Table 5.2 Types of conflicts arising in the cases 72
Table 5.3 Factors shaping societal acceptance for the different new energy technologies 73
Table 6.1 National factors influencing new energy projects 83
Table 6.2 Local factors influencing new energy projects 87
Table 7.1 Different definitions of stakeholders. Source: Maessen et al. (forthcoming). 89
Table 7.2 Overview of partners, stakeholders and other actors in the cases 92
Table 7.3 Forms and patterns of stakeholder interaction in the projects 98
Table 7.4 Stakeholders’ expectations that led to conflicts in the case projects, on a
continuum between ‘genuine’ conflicts of interest and management and
communication issues 107
Table 7.5 Project design and project process characteristics promoting alignment of
interests 110
Table 8.1 Factors pertaining to the national and local context influencing project success 115
Table 8.2 Critical issues and success factors for different new energy technologies 116
Table 8.3 Questions that help projects to increase the likelihood of creating societal
acceptance 117
Table 8.4 Examples of management activities that are important for successful processes
and successful outcomes 119

Table B.1 Key figures for Nordic countries 155
Table B.2 Nordic countries: Key figures on renewable energy 156
Table B.3 Key figures for Central and East European countries 158
Table B.4 Central and East Europe: Key figures on renewable energy 160
Table B.5 Key figures for South European countries 162
Table B.6 South Europe: Key figures on renewable energy 163
Table B.7 Key figures for West European countries 165
Table B.8 West Europe: Key figures on renewable energy 167
Table C.1 North Europe: Indicators of citizen’s awareness of climate change and energy
issues 168
Table C.2 Central and East Europe: Indicators of citizen’s awareness of climate change
and energy issues 169
Table C.3 South Europe: Indicators of citizen’s awareness of climate change and energy
issues 169
Table C.4 West Europe: Indicators of citizen’s awareness of climate change and energy
issues 170
Table D.1 Factors influencing renewable energy development in the Nordic countries
(Sources: IEA, 2004; Eurobarometer 2005, 2006) 174
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Table D.2 Factors influencing renewable energy development in the Central and East
European countries (Sources: IEA 2004, 2006; Eurobarometer 2005, 2006) 181
Table D.3 (continued) Factors influencing renewable energy development in the Central
and East European countries (Sources: IEA, 2004, 2006) 182
Table D.4 Factors influencing renewable energy development in the South European
countries (IEA, 2004; Eurobarometer, 2005; 2006) 187
Table D.5 Factors influencing renewable energy development in the West European
countries (Sources: IEA, 2004, 2004b; Eurobarometer, 2005, 2006) 195

List of figures
Figure 3.1 Landscape, regime and niche levels in socio-technical change 29
Figure 3.2 The four step framework 35
Figure 3.3 Degrees of outcome success 35
Figure 3.4 Degrees of process in context success 37
Figure 3.5 Degrees and styles of success 38
Figure 4.1 Per capita final energy consumption in 2004, toe, (Eurostat) 40
Figure 4.2 Energy dependency, net energy imports per gross consumption in 2004, %
(source Eurostat) 40
Figure 4.3 Share of main energy sources in total primary energy supply in 2004, % (IEA
Online data service) 41
Figure 4.4 Share of citizens mentioning climate change as one of five major environmental
concerns (Eurobarometer, 2005) 43
Figure 4.5 Growth in renewables primary production 1994-2004, [%] (Eurostat) 43
Figure 4.6 Primary aims of the case projects on a continuum between early-stage
deployment and promotion, experimentation, demonstration or learning 49
Figure 6.1 A multilevel perspective on region 76
Figure 7.1 The circle of stakeholders 90
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Executive summary
Introducing the project Create Acceptance
This summary provides results of research that has been conducted as part of the EU-funded
project Create Acceptance. Create Acceptance is supported by the European Commission under
its Sixth Framework Programme (Project no. 518351). This report describes the results of the
activities carried out for the second work package ‘WP2’, which was coordinated by NCRC-
Finland. Create Acceptance is coordinated by ECN (the Netherlands), and involves research in-
stitutes in Italy (CNR/CERIS), Finland (NCRC), Spain (EcoInstitut), Germany (OEKO), United
Kingdom (SURF), France (IAE), Iceland (INE), Hungary (MAKK), Poland (IEO) and South
Africa (UCT). More details about the Create Acceptance project can be found at
http://www.createacceptance.net.

Often, successful adoption and diffusion of innovations is assumed to be merely an issue of se-
curing the techno-economic dimension. In practice, many technological projects are facing se-
vere resistance from various stakeholders. Aligning the views of these stakeholders and finding
an agreed common view on the innovation lies at the heart of good management practices for
successful technology development. Successfully diffusing innovations relies on creating the
societal acceptance of the technology.

The project Create Acceptance contributes to facilitating the implementation of new and emerg-
ing sustainable energy technologies by assessing optimal conditions for the implementation of
these new technologies in terms of socio-economic aspects, consumer preferences and citizen
needs. The objectives of this project are to increase the competitiveness of RES (Renewable En-
ergy Sources) and RUE (Rational Use of Energy) technologies by developing a tool that can
measure, promote and improve social acceptance of these technologies.

Introduction and aim of Work Package 2
Public opinion surveys show widespread support for using renewable energy sources and in-
creasing energy efficiency. Yet new energy technologies often fail to make the transition from
research to deployment successfully, and demonstration and early deployment projects can even
provoke social controversies. This indicates that our understanding of the non-technical forces
shaping the application of new energy technologies, particularly at the local and regional level,
is still underdeveloped.
The aim of Work Package 2 has been to make an analysis of the historical and recent acceptance
of new energy technologies (energy efficiency and geothermal energy, bioenergy, wind and
ocean energy, solar energy, hydrogen and CO capture and storage) in the different regions in
2
Europe (Nordic countries, West Europe, Central Europe, and South Europe) and South Africa in
order to identify determinants of success and failure. A special focus has been placed on hydro-
gen, CO capture and storage, biomass, solar and wind energy technologies. The work con-
2
ducted in WP2 has two major audiences:
1. It provides input for further work within Create Acceptance on the development and testing
of a multi-stakeholder tool for assessing and promoting societal acceptance.
2. It has developed a compendium of best practices for managing social acceptability in the
field of new energy technology, based on lessons learned from both good and bad practices
in different parts of Europe. This compendium is further framed in an extensive analysis of
the conditions for new energy projects in EU Member States.

The present report includes the following deliverables of Work Package 2: D2.1 Database of re-
gion profiles, D2.2 Assessing region specific attitude and D2.3 Assessing indicators of success.
The present version is a Draft Report, and will be complemented with three more case studies,
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including the research on South Africa; the final version of the report will be published at the
end of 2007.

Research approach and design
A review of prior literature in the field revealed that the phenomenon of ‘social’ or ‘societal’
acceptance is poorly conceptualised. This makes it difficult to compare or accumulate findings
from previous studies into a coherent picture of the societal acceptance of new energy technolo-
gies in Europe today. Some studies measure ‘public acceptance’ in terms of public opinion sur-
veys, others focus on acceptance by specific social groups.

In WP2, we have conceptualised societal acceptance in terms of the social networks that build
up around concrete new energy applications, and the ways and extent to which alignment is
achieved among the expectations of the project managers and stakeholders, and the resources
and demands of the local context. The theoretical foundation of the study is the emerging re-
search tradition of technological transitions. Pilot and demonstration projects are here under-
stood as early encounters of the technology with societal stakeholders, and as such, as important
forums for mutual social learning and the development of socially acceptable technological so-
lutions.

In order to study recent and historical controversies and successful applications, a database was
collected in the form of previous projects from different parts of Europe and dealing with the
different technologies (Annex 1 of this report). This database consists of 27 project case studies
(Table S.1), and will be complemented with three more case studies by June 2007. Moreover, an
overview report of the political, socio-economic and energy profiles of the covered regions, in-
cluding an overview of general attitude towards the deployment of various new energy tech-
nologies in the respective regions has been compiled, which serves as a background and overall
context for the case studies (Annexes 2-6 of this report).
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Table S.1 Overview of the cases in terms of technology and regional coverage
Energy conservation Biomass Wind Solar Hydrogen CO capture and Other
2
storage (CCS)
WEST EUROPE Hannover Crickdale Bioenergy EOLE 2005 wind London CUTE CRUST CO capture Blue Energy (salinity
2
social marketing for Power Station (UK) energy programme hydrogen fuelling & storage project power)
energy efficiency (France) station (UK) (Netherlands) (Netherlands)
Bracknell Biomass
(Germany)
CHP Energy Centre Cap Eole wind
(UK) project in Albi
(France)
Bioenergy Village Berlin H2ACCEPT Schwarze Pumpe
Jühnde (Germany) bus trials (Germany) CO capture and
2
storage project
(Germany)
NORTH EUROPE Low energy housing Västerås Biogas ECTOS hydrogen Snohvit CO capture
2
(Finland) Plant (Sweden) project (Iceland) & storage project
(Norway)
Lund Biogas Plant
(Sweden)
EAST & CENTRAL Pannon Power Suwalki region wind Pommerania region Podhale region
EUROPE biomass conversion project (Poland) solar energy project geothermal project
(Hungary) (Poland) (Poland)
Szelero Vep wind
project (Hungary)
SOUTH EUROPE Trinitat Nova Umbria local Barcelona Solar
Ecocity energy biomass projects Ordinance (Spain)
efficiency project (Italy)
(Spain)
PV Accept solar
project (Italy)

BEYOND EUROPE Solar home systems
(South Africa)
Solar water heaters
(South Africa)
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