Here Comes the Sun? an Analysis of the Factors That May Affect the Level of Social Acceptance of Large Ground Mounted Solar PV Projects Among Local Stakeholders
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Here comes the sun? An analysis of the factors that may affect the level of social acceptance of large ground mounted solar PV projects among local stakeholders Master thesis Sustainable Development Author: L.E.Schreurs (student number 3682684) Track: Earth System Governance Faculty: Faculty of Geosciences Thesis supervisor: Dr. Carel Dieperink Date: 05-02-2019 2 Acknowledgements During the long and challenging process of writing this Master Thesis, I was supported by a number of people to whom I would like to express my gratitude. Firstly I thank Dr. Carel Dieperink for his supervision, good advices and flexibility over the past months. Secondly I would like to thank Prof. dr. Peter Driessen, who supported me during the design of the research proposal. Furthermore, this research project would not have been possible without the people that were so kind to take part in the interviews. I would like to express my gratitude for their time and their willingness to participate. Last but not least, I wish to thank my family and my girlfriend for their faith in me and all their support in the last years. I thank my father for proofreading this thesis and for all his time, effort and good advice during my studies. 3 4 Summary A complete decarbonisation of the Dutch energy system is required to fulfil the Paris agreement climate targets. However, the Netherlands are lagging behind with their renewable energy development. Social acceptance by local stakeholders often poses a barrier for the development of renewable energy projects. Knowledge on the social acceptance processes of large ground mounted solar PV projects by local stakeholders is lacking, especially in the Netherlands. Therefore, this research project aims to provide insight in the factors that may affect the level of social acceptance of large ground mounted solar PV projects among local stakeholders. The practical aim is to produce concrete and applicable knowledge for key actors who are involved in these type of projects. Therefore the main research question guiding the project is: ‘’Which factors affect the extent to which large scale ground mounted solar PV projects are accepted by local stakeholders in the Netherlands?’’. To answer this question, first a theoretical framework is designed of factors from the social acceptance literature on NIMBY (not in my back yard) and Community energy. This framework is examined in the Dutch practice to find out which factors affect the level of acceptance of large ground mounted solar PV projects among local stakeholders. The assessment is performed by means of a comparative case study design in which in-depth interviews with key actors are executed. Additionally, surveys are distributed among key actors involved in other large ground mounted solar PV projects in the Netherlands. This has resulted in an empirically tested set of factors that may contribute to social acceptance of large ground mounted solar PV projects by local stakeholders in the Netherlands. Finally, these findings are converted into a list of recommendations for project managers, local governments, renewable energy developing companies and other key actors. Key words: - Solar PV projects – Social acceptance – The Netherlands – Local stakeholders – Success factors – Renewable energy 5 6 Table of contents I Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………….…3 II Summary…………………………………………………………………………………......5 III Table of contents………………………………………………………………………..…...7 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….9 1.1 Towards a decarbonisation of the energy system…………………....…….…...…….....9 1.2 Problem definition…………………………………………………………………..………..9 1.3 Large ground mounted solar PV projects…………………………………………………9 1.4 Knowledge gap…………………………………………………………………...….……..11 1.5 Research objective……………………………………………………………….………...12 1.6 Research framework……………………………………………….….……………...……12 1.7 Research questions……………………………………..……………………………..…..13 1.8 Thesis outline……………………………………………………………………………….13 2. Review of the social acceptance literature…………………….…………………….15 2.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...…..15 2.2 Social acceptance of renewable energy innovations………………...…………..…….15 2.3 Social acceptance of renewable energy projects……………………………………….16 2.4 Theoretical factors influencing social acceptance …………………..…………...….…17 2.5 Conceptual model………………………………………………………………………..…21 2.6 Concluding remarks……………………………………………………………………..…22 3. Methodology……………………………………………………………………………….23 3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….23 3.2 Comparative case study analysis…………………………………………………….......23 3.2.1 Key characteristics of ‘de Griene Greide’………………………………………..…....…24 3.2.2 Key characteristics of the Wirdum & Wytgaard projects………...…………..……...…25 3.3 Collecting case study data…..…………………………………………………....…….…26 3.4 Survey…………………………………………………………………………………...…..28 3.5 Scoring system…………………...………………………………………………....…..….31 3.6 Concluding remarks……………………………………………………………………..…32 4. Social acceptance of ‘de Griene Greide’…………………………....……………..…35 4.1 Introduction…………………...…………………………………………………....……….35 4.2 Overview of factors affecting social acceptance by local stakeholders………………35 4.3 Analysis of factors affecting social acceptance by local stakeholders………………..36 4.3.1 Social factors…………………………………………………………………………….….36 4.3.2 Physical factors……………………………………………………………………….…….37 4.3.3 Site selection factors……………………………………………………………………….38 4.3.4 Process factors………………………………………………………………………….….40 4.4 Concluding remarks………………………………………………………………………..44 5. Social acceptance of the Wirdum & Wytgaard projects………………………...…45 5.1 Introduction…………………...………………………………………………….........……45 5.2 Overview of factors affecting social acceptance by local stakeholders………………45 5.3 Analysis of factors affecting social acceptance by local stakeholders………….…….46 7 5.3.1 Social factors…………………………………………………………………………….….46 5.3.2 Physical factors……………………………………………………………………………..47 5.3.3 Site selection factors……………………………………………………………………….48 5.3.4 Process factors………………………………………………………………………….….50 5.4 Concluding remarks………………………………………………………………………..54 6. Case study comparison and survey outcomes 6.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….…55 6.2 Comparative analysis of in-depth case study findings…………………………….…...55 6.2.1 Similarities between the cases………………………......................................………..56 6.2.2 Differences between the cases………………………………………….................……58 6.3 Survey outcomes..…………………………………………………………...............……60 6.3.1 Validation of the comparative case study outcomes………………………………..….61 6.3.2 Differences between the outcomes………………………………………………………62 6.4 Concluding remarks………………………………………………………………………..63 7. Discussion, conclusion and recommendations……………….……………...…….65 7.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..…...65 7.2 Limitations..……………………………………………………….….........................……65 7.2.1 Theoretical framework…………………………………………………………….…….…65 7.2.2 Comparative case study design……………………………………………………..……66 7.2.3 Interviews………………………………………………………………………..……..……66 7.2.4 Survey…………………………………………………………………………..………...…67 7.3 Relevance …………………..…………………….………………………….............……68 7.4 Main research question..………………………………………...............................……70 7.5 Recommendations..……………………………………….......……………….…….....…70 7.5.1 Eight Recommendations for project developing actors……………………………...…70 7.5.2 Recommendations for future research…………………………………………………...72 References…………………………….………………………………………..……….....73 Appendix A Interview transcripts ……………………………………………………..75 Appendix B Survey questions………………………..……………………………….255 8 1.Introduction 1.1 Towards a decarbonisation of the energy system In November 2016 the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) published its report on the impact of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Dutch long-term climate policy. In their report, the PBL stated that CO2 emissions in the Netherlands must be reduced by 50% in 2030 in order to keep on track of achieving the formulated climate targets. However, Dutch climate policies until 2017 were steering towards a disappointing emission reduction of about 12% in 2030 (van Vuuren et al., 2016). Moreover, according to the PBL, a complete decarbonisation of the Dutch energy system up to 2050 is required for achieving the targets from the Paris agreement (van Vuuren et al., 2016). A considerable share of total energy system emissions consists of electricity consumption. From the International Energy Agency (IEA) Key World Energy Statistics report 2017, it can be derived that global electricity consumption accounted for around 20% of total global energy consumption in 2015 (IEA, 2017). In the Netherlands, around 80% of the consumed electricity is generated by means of the CO2 producing fossil fuel sources natural gas and coal (CBS, 2015). The European Union (EU) aims to decarbonise the energy system by striving for an average of 20% renewable energy generation by its member states in 2020 (Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC). The Netherlands had originally committed to contributing to this EU average with 14% renewable energy generation. However, renewable energy generation in the Netherlands has been lagging behind and was still at only 5.8 % in 2015. After Malta and Luxembourg (both 5.0% in 2015) the Netherlands was even the member state with the lowest share of renewable energy generation of the entire EU (Eurostat, 2017). In order to meet EU requirements and to decarbonise the Dutch energy system, there is an urgency for more renewable energy generation in the Netherlands 1.2