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Rurality and renewable energy conflicts: A case study of a Danish municipality's renewable energy transition

Refsgaard, Lisbeth Kristine Opsahl LU (2025) HEKM51 20251
Department of Human Geography
Human Ecology
Abstract
With the political agreement to quadruple the onshore renewable energy production-(RE) by 2030, Denmark is facing an increased resistance towards and conflict-around the roll-out of RE in affected rural communities. This thesis is a case study-of one municipality in Denmark, Viborg, and how the conflict is experienced here.By interviewing key actors such as locals, the municipality, a developer and-landowners in the conflict procedural and distributive justice concerns are revealed-alongside NIMBYistic behavioural tendencies. My findings show that procedural-justice is an issue embedded in poor developer practices and exclusion of the local-communities in decision-making. Distributive justice is related to the widening-rural-urban gap... (More)
With the political agreement to quadruple the onshore renewable energy production-(RE) by 2030, Denmark is facing an increased resistance towards and conflict-around the roll-out of RE in affected rural communities. This thesis is a case study-of one municipality in Denmark, Viborg, and how the conflict is experienced here.By interviewing key actors such as locals, the municipality, a developer and-landowners in the conflict procedural and distributive justice concerns are revealed-alongside NIMBYistic behavioural tendencies. My findings show that procedural-justice is an issue embedded in poor developer practices and exclusion of the local-communities in decision-making. Distributive justice is related to the widening-rural-urban gap where rural areas are carrying the burdens of RE development-whilst also being at risk of depopulation. While depopulation, by some is understood-as a consequence of RE development, others argue that the community-benefit-schemes that follow RE development can contribute to value creation anddevelopment of affected rural communities. NIMBYistic behavioural tendencies is-seen in the silencing of supporters of RE development in some local communities,-where the opposition is strong and dominating the conversation. These issues are-embedded in a broader, national context where the deregulation of the land and-energy market supporting investment in large scale RE facilities is weakening the-social embeddedness of RE projects and undermining participatory decisionmaking-practices. (Less)
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author
Refsgaard, Lisbeth Kristine Opsahl LU
supervisor
organization
course
HEKM51 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
9188465
date added to LUP
2025-07-31 12:55:48
date last changed
2025-07-31 12:55:48
@misc{9188465,
  abstract     = {{With the political agreement to quadruple the onshore renewable energy production-(RE) by 2030, Denmark is facing an increased resistance towards and conflict-around the roll-out of RE in affected rural communities. This thesis is a case study-of one municipality in Denmark, Viborg, and how the conflict is experienced here.By interviewing key actors such as locals, the municipality, a developer and-landowners in the conflict procedural and distributive justice concerns are revealed-alongside NIMBYistic behavioural tendencies. My findings show that procedural-justice is an issue embedded in poor developer practices and exclusion of the local-communities in decision-making. Distributive justice is related to the widening-rural-urban gap where rural areas are carrying the burdens of RE development-whilst also being at risk of depopulation. While depopulation, by some is understood-as a consequence of RE development, others argue that the community-benefit-schemes that follow RE development can contribute to value creation anddevelopment of affected rural communities. NIMBYistic behavioural tendencies is-seen in the silencing of supporters of RE development in some local communities,-where the opposition is strong and dominating the conversation. These issues are-embedded in a broader, national context where the deregulation of the land and-energy market supporting investment in large scale RE facilities is weakening the-social embeddedness of RE projects and undermining participatory decisionmaking-practices.}},
  author       = {{Refsgaard, Lisbeth Kristine Opsahl}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Rurality and renewable energy conflicts: A case study of a Danish municipality's renewable energy transition}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}