Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
early 1990s fueled a virtuous cycle—community ownership enhanced pub-
lic sensitivity toward climate change, which in turn catalyzed support for
further renewable energy development.
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Despite broad public support for wind power, it cannot be said that all
members of the public have a shared ainity for the technology. It has been
reported that in some regions proliferation of wind power installations have
engendered local resistance, particularly in communities with wind farms
that generate energy for export to other German states or other nations.
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As one team of researchers summarized it, “Germans may love their green
energy, but they also have a growing proclivity toward not in my backyard
(NIMBY) lawsuits and referenda.”
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Nevertheless, there still appears to be
widespread support for wind energy. According to a 2011 survey commis-
sioned by Germany's Renewable Energy Agency, two-thirds of Germans still
support increasing wind power capacity. However, 71% of these respon-
dents would prefer to see policy directed at encouraging more ofshore wind
power projects.
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he government has recognized that continued development onshore may
erode public support for wind power; and as outlined in the previous sec-
tion, it has responded by elevating ofshore wind power development plans.
Ominously, there is also evidence that many Germans hold deep convictions
of the sea as a natural space and might not respond favorably to technological
deilement of the aesthetic bliss associated with a day at the beach.
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In short,
there is evidence that civic support for wind power has limits.
5.4.2 Economic Landscape
he economic landscape inluencing wind power development in Germany
is really a story of clashing interests. here has been opposition from indus-
tries and large utilities. Industry opposition to higher contributions from
wind power stem from the higher costs exhibited in the early days of wind
power expansion. Larger utilities, which in Germany are mostly private
owned, have exhibited a resistance to higher contributions of wind power
due to the technical complications of managing stochastic power supplies
and due to connection costs that utilities were responsible for under the
renewable energy acts.
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So generally, the stakeholders who have been
opposed to wind power in Germany do not difer much from the industrial
stakeholders that oppose wind power in other nations.
However, opposition to wind power from German utilities in the early
days was mild and inefective, compared to opposition encountered in most
other nations. Industries in Germany were so hard-hit by the inlated oil
