02.04.2015

RENERGY

Community perceptions of renewable energy in Portugal Ana Delicado Luís Silva

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The Project Socio-technical consensus and controversies about renewable energies: http://www.renergyproj.ics.ul.pt Duration: 2012-2014 Funding: FCT (PTDC/CS-ECS/118877/2010) Institutions: ICS Ulisboa, CRIA, Univerrsity of Aveiro Aims: To understand social attitudes towards macrogeneration of renewable energies (solar and wind power plants), at the national and local levels

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Methods National level

Interviews with stakeholders (policy makers, ENGO, scientists, RE companies, associations) Media analysis Public opinion surveys Analysis of parliamentary debates EIA reports, public consultation reports

Local level

Case studies: 3 wind farms, 1 solar power plant (document and media analysis, interviews with stakeholders and residents, ethnography)

Case studies: wind farms Terras Altas de Fafe, 53 turbines, 2004 Serra da Freita, 18 turbines, 2006, Natura 2000 Alvaiázere, 9 turbines, 2010, Natura 2000

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Case study: solar power plant

Amareleja/Moura 45.8 MW 250 ha 2,520 solar trackers

Framework: RE in Portugal Very favourable policies for wind energy(feed-in tariffs, public tenders for grid connection) Energy infrastructures are mostly owned by large electricity companies, no cooperatives, no local ownership Weak tradition of public participation, top down decision

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Community perceptions Environmental impacts Health impacts Socio-economic impacts Landscape and heritage

Environment renewable energies as ‘clean’, ‘pure’, ‘non-polluting’, ‘green’, ‘more right’, ‘good’ Nature: To take advantage of what nature gives us, (…) we are positively showered with what nature gives us, which is wind and sun (interview WFA president of the parish council #1) Endogenous: For us at least, for our municipality, which for the best part of the year is the hottest in the country, since we have these natural resources we should take advantage of them. The land is also favourable, it’s flat, (interview SPPA resident in Moura #3)

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Environment Global good: The first benefit we will see from wind farms is that this type of energy is very important, for human life is very important. (…) I know that on a global level it brings us many and large benefits (interview WFTAF president of the parish council #5) Better than other energy sources: fossil fuels, nuclear, hydroelectric dams, biomass Hydropower is a sort of renewable energy that has much more environmental impacts, not just over landscape, but also over sand depletion in beaches (Interview WFTAF association #4)

Environment Risks: wildlife impacts, waste, obsolescence All that messes with nature harms it and it seems that over there, the bats, they were affected for sure, because that changes completely (Interview WFA resident #6) It’s negative because it [solar power plant] creates a greenhouse effect. In my modest opinion, sun rays are projected back into the air and it creates a minigreenhouse effect in that area (Interview SPPA resident Moura #9)

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Health Noise and unknown health effects It’s only the ones that live really close [to the wind farm], it makes a bit of noise (Interview WFSF resident #17) I’m not much informed about this thing [solar power plant]. I don’t know if it’s good or bad for you. There are so many things that used to be bad and now they say it’s good. Who knows if tomorrow someone says that it’s bad for your health? I don’t know. (Interview SPPA resident Moura #5)

Socio-economic impacts Job creation: No, at that level it didn’t bring any… there was no job creation, except for one or two cases but even in those cases the employees are not from this area (Interview WFSF, president of the municipality #1) Local trade: Of course it brought movement, people, during the installation… even now, there are always some people coming and going but… that is all (Interview WFTAF, member of the municipality council)

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Socio-economic impacts Energy prices: It is a pity that the electricity costs don’t go down here… that we don’t have any benefit from the wind farm. It is only the municipality that receive some money… but the local residents that are close to the wind farm don’t have any benefit from it (Interview WFTAF, president of the parish council #3) Revenue for the municipality and land owners: Benefits… only for the municipality in terms of inflow of money into their safes. But the question is: the inflow of money to the municipality is a real benefit for us? (Interview WFA, citizen who was involved in the public consultation process)

Socio-economic impacts Tourism and the creation of a territorial “brand”: “land of the sun”

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Socio-economic impacts •Local theatre group puts on plays about the sun •Children’s carnival chose photovoltaic energy as a theme • Two local choral groups wrote songs about the power plant

Heritage Negative impact on natural and archaeological heritage: [the wind farm has] spoiled the mountain of Alvaiázere as heritage (…) and entailed the destruction of some thousands of square meters of grikes that allegedly were a protected value of Natura 2000 and two caves (interview WFA resident #20). Solar power plant built in the place of an airfield that was considered part of collective heritage, ‘an old thing that belonged to the people’ (interview SPPA resident Amareleja #2).

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Landscape Wind farms: negative ‘landscape transformations’; it ‘spoiled the landscape and the view of the mountain’; ‘it tainted what was a nature mountain’; “ it has a visual impact that displeases at 100%’. Solar power plant: ‘is completely out of place in the landscape’, ‘it spoils a little the landscape’. Artificial: There is something that was put there by man and does not necessarily has to do with nature (interview WFSF former municipal councillor #1).

Landscape Traditional vs. Modern: I notice[…] when I go to Lisbon via the A8 [motorway], I see the restored windmills on the one side and the wind turbines on the other side… it seems something from the moon. It is scary (interview WFA residents #1 and #2). Emotional attachment: I am absolutely against the implementation of the wind farm on the top of the mountain, because I am attached to that place; it is a place that I love (interview WFTAF citizen #1)

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Landscape Familiarity: ‘people are already accustomed to the wind farm; ‘it is already part of the landscape’; ‘all that we - humans - do has an impact; if we get used to it, after a few years, [...] it is an assimilated image’ Positive or neutral impact: ‘it sits well on the mountain’; ‘it has a positive impact’; ‘it looks good’; ‘it is funny’; ‘it fits well in the landscape’; ‘it is perfectly integrated’ in the landscape’, ‘the impact it has in visual terms is virtually zero’; ‘it does not bother anyone’

Final remarks Community perceptions as crucial for understanding acceptance Distributive justice (benefits and impacts) Landscape and values are important, but socioeconomic conditions are as well Common traits and local specificities

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