The polarized attitudes of offshore wind - The social acceptance of planned offshore wind farm Västvind among Öckerö municipality residents
(2023) MVEM31 20231Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
- Abstract
- Climate change, the energy crisis of 2022-2023, and estimations of future electricity demands have stressed the necessity for a rapid transition of the energy system. Offshore wind energy plays an important role in this transition, and is expected to expand considerably on a global level, in the EU and in Sweden. While Swedes show high support of wind energy, a majority of recent projects have been stopped at the local level.
The research on social acceptance of offshore wind energy farms in Sweden is still novel, and there is no previous study on the role of place attachment in a Swedish offshore case. This thesis studies the attitudes of residents in Öckerö municipality, Sweden to the local planned offshore wind energy farm Västvind,... (More) - Climate change, the energy crisis of 2022-2023, and estimations of future electricity demands have stressed the necessity for a rapid transition of the energy system. Offshore wind energy plays an important role in this transition, and is expected to expand considerably on a global level, in the EU and in Sweden. While Swedes show high support of wind energy, a majority of recent projects have been stopped at the local level.
The research on social acceptance of offshore wind energy farms in Sweden is still novel, and there is no previous study on the role of place attachment in a Swedish offshore case. This thesis studies the attitudes of residents in Öckerö municipality, Sweden to the local planned offshore wind energy farm Västvind, and the roles of anticipated impacts, general attitude to offshore wind and place attachment in the forming of Västvind attitudes.
Through convenience sampling, 154 residents in Öckerö municipality participated in an online survey that was communicated through local physical and online social media billboards. The relationships between variables were investigated by applying Spearman’s rho and ordinal logistic regression calculations in Stata 17.
The respondents exhibited polarized attitudes to Västvind, with a majority of respondents choosing the most positive or most negative alternative available. In general, two thirds (66.2%) of respondents were positive to Västvind, and 26.6% were negative. The regression analysis concluded that respondents’ anticipated impact on house prices and local energy supply were significant predictors of their attitude to Västvind. Their anticipated impact on ocean view, the municipality’s climate impact, employment, pride of municipality, tourism, regional energy supply, the fishing industry, and local ecosystems were not. Residents’ general attitude to offshore wind energy had a significant and strong association with their attitude to Västvind. Respondents’ place attachment did not. Almost all respondents exhibited high levels of place attachment.
Further research into Swedish offshore cases is recommended, especially for focuses relating to motivations behind attitudes, energy production type preferences, anticipated loss of local influence and control of local resources, and place attachment. (Less) - Popular Abstract (Swedish)
- Klimatförändringarna, energikrisen och en ökande efterfrågan på el har uppmärksammat behovet av en hållbar omställning av energisystemet. Havsbaserad vindkraft spelar en viktig roll i denna omställning och förväntas expandera kraftigt globalt, i EU och i Sverige. Samtidigt möter projekt stort lokalt motstånd. Trots att svenskar generellt visar högt stöd för vindkraft så har en majoritet av de senaste projekten stoppats på lokal nivå.
Forskningen om social acceptans av havsbaserade vindkraftsparker i Sverige är fortfarande begränsad, och det finns ingen studie om platsaknytningens roll i ett svenskt fall. Detta examensarbete undersöker hur invånare i Öckerö kommun ställer sig till den planerade vindkraftsparken Västvind i Västerhavet, samt... (More) - Klimatförändringarna, energikrisen och en ökande efterfrågan på el har uppmärksammat behovet av en hållbar omställning av energisystemet. Havsbaserad vindkraft spelar en viktig roll i denna omställning och förväntas expandera kraftigt globalt, i EU och i Sverige. Samtidigt möter projekt stort lokalt motstånd. Trots att svenskar generellt visar högt stöd för vindkraft så har en majoritet av de senaste projekten stoppats på lokal nivå.
Forskningen om social acceptans av havsbaserade vindkraftsparker i Sverige är fortfarande begränsad, och det finns ingen studie om platsaknytningens roll i ett svenskt fall. Detta examensarbete undersöker hur invånare i Öckerö kommun ställer sig till den planerade vindkraftsparken Västvind i Västerhavet, samt vilken roll som respondenters förväntade effekter, generella inställning till havsbaserad vindkraft och deras platsanknytning spelar i utformningen av attityder gentemot Västvind.
154 boende i Öckerö kommun deltog genom självurval i en webbenkät som kommunicerades genom lokala fysiska och webbaserade anslagstavlor. Sambanden mellan variabler undersöktes genom att använda Spearmans rho och ordinal logistisk regressionsanalys i Stata 17.
Enkätsvaren visade att två tredjedelar av de tillfrågade var positiva till Västvind och att en fjärdedel var negativa. Majoriteten av de tillfrågade kände starkt för ämnet. Regressionsanalysen visade att respondenternas förväntade påverkan från Västvind på huspriser och på lokal energiförsörjning har ett signifikant samband med deras inställning till Västvind. Deras förväntade påverkan på havsutsikten, kommunens klimatpåverkan, sysselsättningen, stolthet över kommunen, turism, regional energiförsörjning, fiskeindustrin och lokala ekosystem har inte det. Invånarnas allmänna inställning till havsbaserad vindkraft har ett signifikant och starkt samband med deras inställning till Västvind, men det har inte deras platsanknytning. Nästan alla respondenter uppvisade stark platsanknytning till Öckerö kommun.
Ytterligare forskning om svenska offshore-fall rekommenderas, särskilt för inriktningar som rör motiveringar bakom boendes attityder, vilken typ av energiproduktion som föredras, förväntad förlust av lokalt inflytande och kontroll över lokala resurser samt platsanknytning. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9138684
- author
- Marzelius, Milla LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MVEM31 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Offshore wind energy, Social acceptance, Place attachment, Västvind, Öckerö
- language
- English
- id
- 9138684
- date added to LUP
- 2023-09-21 13:46:36
- date last changed
- 2023-09-21 13:46:36
@misc{9138684,
abstract = {{Climate change, the energy crisis of 2022-2023, and estimations of future electricity demands have stressed the necessity for a rapid transition of the energy system. Offshore wind energy plays an important role in this transition, and is expected to expand considerably on a global level, in the EU and in Sweden. While Swedes show high support of wind energy, a majority of recent projects have been stopped at the local level.
The research on social acceptance of offshore wind energy farms in Sweden is still novel, and there is no previous study on the role of place attachment in a Swedish offshore case. This thesis studies the attitudes of residents in Öckerö municipality, Sweden to the local planned offshore wind energy farm Västvind, and the roles of anticipated impacts, general attitude to offshore wind and place attachment in the forming of Västvind attitudes.
Through convenience sampling, 154 residents in Öckerö municipality participated in an online survey that was communicated through local physical and online social media billboards. The relationships between variables were investigated by applying Spearman’s rho and ordinal logistic regression calculations in Stata 17.
The respondents exhibited polarized attitudes to Västvind, with a majority of respondents choosing the most positive or most negative alternative available. In general, two thirds (66.2%) of respondents were positive to Västvind, and 26.6% were negative. The regression analysis concluded that respondents’ anticipated impact on house prices and local energy supply were significant predictors of their attitude to Västvind. Their anticipated impact on ocean view, the municipality’s climate impact, employment, pride of municipality, tourism, regional energy supply, the fishing industry, and local ecosystems were not. Residents’ general attitude to offshore wind energy had a significant and strong association with their attitude to Västvind. Respondents’ place attachment did not. Almost all respondents exhibited high levels of place attachment.
Further research into Swedish offshore cases is recommended, especially for focuses relating to motivations behind attitudes, energy production type preferences, anticipated loss of local influence and control of local resources, and place attachment.}},
author = {{Marzelius, Milla}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The polarized attitudes of offshore wind - The social acceptance of planned offshore wind farm Västvind among Öckerö municipality residents}},
year = {{2023}},
}