Local planning, area benefits key to wind-farm buy-in, study finds
TORONTO — Involving community members in wind-farm planning and ensuring nearby residents benefit from turbines would go a long way toward winning local buy-in for such projects, a new Canadian study concludes.
The study, published in a recent edition of the Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, notes that fast-paced development and limits on local decision-making has resulted in strong opposition to wind projects. Those objections can be mitigated by the fair distribution and amount of area benefits, the authors write.
“This comparative case study of policy programs in Canada highlights stark differences in various aspects of perceived economic benefits and support for local wind-energy development,” the authors write. “This work adds to the growing literature that suggests that resistance to wind energy in Canada is at least partially due to the policy levers used in areas going through energy transitions.”
For the paper, Chad Walker and Jamie Baxter with Western University’s department of geography compare approaches to wind-energy development in southwestern Ontario and Nova Scotia.