Rajgród Fw6 Polska Wind Farm”

EKONOMIA I ŚRODOWISKO • 2 (65) • 2018 Krystyna RAUBA • Agata ZIMIŃSKA THE EVALUATION OF THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF “RAJGRÓD FW6 POLSKA WIND FARM” Krystyna Rauba, PhD – Bialystok University of Technology Agata Zimińska, Eng. – student of Bialystok University of Technology Correspondence address: Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering Wiejska street 45E, Bialystok, 15-351, Poland e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT: Renewable energy sources play a key role. The Polish legal system takes into account public participation in the investment process. This also applies to the construction of a wind power plant. In Poland, there is still opposition from local communities to the choice of location and the implementation of an investment project involving the construction of a wind power plant. The aim of this article is to assess the public perception of the construction of a wind farm located in the municipality of Rajgród. The survey of the local community opinion was conducted on the basis of a question- naire carried out through a direct interview. By using the conditional valuation method (CVM), which uses the ready-to-pay (WTP) techniques, residents’ preferences regarding participation in investment financing costs were also examined. Surveys carried out show that the inhabitants of the commune support renewable energy sources and some of the respondents are willing to partially subsidize them. The research has shown that there is a correlation between the age, education and income of the respondents and the amount of co-financing declared by them for the construction of a wind farm in the commune of Rajgród. The largest group of people willing to finance the investment were people in the age groups 26-40 and 41-65. The declared willingness to finance the investment was 1,86 EUR (10% of people) and 2,33 EUR (15% of people). These were people aged between 41-65 with their income of over 232,56 EUR. Only 2% of the respondents declared the amount of 1,16 EUR and they were people over 65 years of age with an average monthly income of about 116,28 EUR. KEY WORDS: wind farms, social perception of investments, opinion pool No. 2(65) 2018 • pages: 124-141 JEL: Q5, P28 EKONOMIA I ŚRODOWISKO 2 (65) • 2018 Studies and materials 125 Introduction Today, humanity is facing global warming and climate change. Therefore, renewable energy sources play a key role, not only in solving the problems of dwindling natural resources, but also in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Wind is one of the key sources of renewable energy for the energy sector (Krawiec, 2010). The world fossil reserves are limited and gradually becoming depleted. Different sources give the approximate year of depletion of natural resources. According to the data of the Institute of Systematic Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, oil resources will be used up around 2050, hard coal are seeing the potential of renewable sources of energy, reducing their dependenceafter 2020, and on gasfossil after fuels. 2060. Wind Today, power more is alreadyand more being countries used in in more the world than 80 countries in Asia, Europe, the Americas, Australia and even Africa. Wind energy has considerable potential to be used. It is estimated that from a tech- currentlynical point expected of view, tothe account world’s for usable 12% windof global energy electricity resources production are 53,000 by 2020TW-h/year, (Lewandowski, i.e. three times2013). the world’s energy consumption. Wind energy is The conditions for the use of renewable energy sources are still subject to - sition from local communities to the choice of location and the implementation ofchanges an investment in Polish lawproject and ininvolving the financing the construction system. In Poland, of a wind there power is still oppoplant. by reducing emissions of gases and dust from the combustion of conventional fuelsTherefore, and the there potential is still aimpact conflict of resulting wind farms from on the the need deterioration to improve of air the quality com- The Polish legal system takes into account public participation in the investmentfort of life of process.the local Thisinhabitants also applies (Jakóbowski, to the construction2016). of a wind power plant. Therefore, it is also worth getting to know the opinion of the local community before taking action. It is important to interview the local population in order to determine whether the local community, and in particular the owners of the plots selected for the construction of wind farms, are willing to lease the land and whether the owners of neighbouring plots will allow for the implementation of the connection infrastructure if the project requires it. Site inspections are also part of the process of assessing the acceptance of the planned investment. These activities make it possible to estimate the risk of local social protests against the construction of wind farms, and if such a risk occurs, to develop a project for its prevention. 126 Studies and materials EKONOMIA I ŚRODOWISKO 2 (65) • 2018 The aim of this article is to assess the public perception of the construc- local community opinion was conducted on the basis of a survey carried out tion of a wind farm located in the municipality of Rajgród. The survey of the through a direct interview. By using the conditional valuation method (CVM), which uses the ready-to-pay (WTP) survey, residents’ preferences regarding participation in investment financing costs were also examined. Energy technology in Poland and worldwide - tion in favour of green energy. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a global problem.Today’s The energy action policy to reduce strategy greenhouse is to reduce gas conventional emissions aims energy at reducing produc their negative environmental impact, combating climate change, and it is one Globally, the share of conventional energy in global energy production continuesof the ways to to decline. achieve The sustainable ever-increasing development prices of(Jakóbowski, fuels and the 2016). ever-increasing pollution of the natural environment are becoming a global problem. The solution to this problem may be the use of unconventional (renewable) energy sources, including wind energy (Krawiec, 2010). The public has now realized the importance of the natural environment and that recovering lost environmental assets is a long-term process, which - boncan sometimesAtlas online be platform, no longer China possible is the (Jakóbowski, largest producer 2016). of carbon dioxide, the Accordingsecond largest to some is thedata United from 2016, States which and canthe bethird found one at is the India Global (www. Car globalcarbonatlas.org). assume a reduction in coal production by 500 million tons by 2020. The energyThe revolution principles alsoof the aims Chinese to achieve government, the level announced of 15% of renewablein February energy 2016, in total production of energy by 2020. According to data from the Global of the wind turbines is 145 105 MW. This country has become a leader in the developmentWind Economic of windCouncil farms, of 10 which February has installed2016, in China,more thanthe installed 30 GW of capacity power over the course of a year. The production of energy by wind turbines not only Modern Chinese technologies have contributed to an increase in innovation ininvolves the energy reduced sector. emissions of pollutants into the air, but it is also profitable. In August 2015, the Clean Power Plan project was implemented in the United States to reduce air pollution from the energy sector. The plan set out to reduce the level of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 32% EKONOMIA I ŚRODOWISKO 2 (65) • 2018 Studies and materials 127 compared to the year 2005 by 2030. The Americans have the fastest growing sources of renewable energy. There is also an increase in the number of wind turbines installed. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), 4,300,000 turbines (37 wind farms) have been installed in the USA with a total capacity of 5 GW. The Indian government has also drawn attention to the need for sustainable energy development. The result is the installation of facilities producing about 50,000 MW from renewable energy sources. However, this represents 2022, the capacity from renewable energy sources will have been 74.4 GW. Thisonly concept11% of willthe reducegenerated carbon power. dioxide India’s emissions energy by policy 20-25%. indicates Currently, that theby share of wind energy in this country is about 10%. - a strongThe Europeanenergy market Union’s based energy on the policy harmony aims to of ensure its member energy states. security, pro tect Accordingthe environment, to data includingfrom the Globalthe fight Wind against Economic climate Council change, (GWEC) and build of February the 10th in the countries of the European Union is still increasing. It is the following for some selected, 2016,countries: the share Denmark of wind – 40%, energy Portugal in the total and energyIreland volume – over - tioned that Denmark is the largest producer of wind turbines and it plans to increase20%, Spain the and share Cyprus of wind – about energy 20%, in the Germany overall – electricity 16%. It should balance also to be 50% men by 2030 (www.gwec.net). In Poland, research into wind energy resources is carried out by the Insti- tute of Meteorology and Water Management. At the of 2012, the annual growth of rate of installed wind power capacity was 880 MW (54%), and in 2013 – 893 MW (38%). In 2013, Poland was ranked 8th in terms of attractive- ness for the wind energy market. According to data collected in 2013 by the Global Wind Energy Council, the share of energy produced from wind tur- Stan energetyki wiatrowej w Polsce w 2015 roku binesAs amounted far as the Polishto 3.6% energy of all electricity policy is concerned, produced (its fundamental objectives , 2016).

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