February 20, 2024
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
A large majority of the population is in favor of expanding the use of wind power on land. However, the number of doubters has increased.
The opinion about this landscape-defining technology is consistent. Since 2015, the Fachagentur Windenergie an Land (FA Wind) has surveyed the acceptance of wind turbines every year. And the proportion of the population that considers the use and expansion of wind power to be "important or very important" has been between 79 and 83 percent ever since. In the most recent survey from November last year, which is available to this editorial team, it was 81 percent.
"People are aware that wind energy is a key factor for economic development, security of supply and climate protection," says FA Board Member Peter Ahmels. He sees the acceptance of onshore wind energy at an "impressively high level".
For the first time, he and his colleagues investigated the extent to which opinions in cities differ from those in rural regions. The lobby organization concludes that the difference is smaller than is often assumed.
39% of those surveyed who live in rural areas would therefore have major concerns if a wind turbine were to be installed in their residential area. In urban areas, 27 percent were very critical. But whether urban or rural: where the technology is already in place, there is broad agreement. 78 percent or 80 percent of those surveyed are "completely" or "somewhat" in agreement with local wind turbines
Majority assume the majority are opposed
According to the survey, many people do not correctly assess the attitude towards wind energy in their residential area. 68 percent of respondents who do not have a wind turbine in their area, for example, put the proportion of local objections at 59 percent. In reality, this proportion is only half as high, it is said.
The perception is similar where wind turbines are installed. On average, respondents estimate the proportion of wind power opponents to be 43 percent, while in reality it is 17 percent according to the survey. The FA explains this discrepancy with the "high degree of activation among opponents of the expansion of onshore wind energy", which distorts the local opinion.
The momentum that has been generated in the expansion of wind energy over the past year has apparently sparked new reservations. The proportion of respondents who would have major or very major reservations "if wind turbines were to be built in their residential area in accordance with current approval practice" rose by 7 percentage points to 29% compared to the previous year.
High willingness to demonstrate among opponents
The organization in Berlin considers "the mobilization rate among wind energy critics" to be "enormously high". While only one in three respondents with a positive attitude towards wind energy could imagine demonstrating for the energy transition, the proportion of potential protesters among wind energy opponents was 2.5 times higher than the proportion of passive sympathizers.
People's trust in individual sources of information on the use of wind energy varies greatly. The majority of those surveyed who would take to the streets against turbines in their residential area only accept citizens' initiatives against wind energy as credible sources of information, writes the FA. Project developers and state authorities were not trusted, it said.
In contrast, people who would demonstrate in favor of the energy transition mainly believed scientific institutions and energy agencies as well as newspapers and authorities.
According to the German Wind Energy Association (BWE), 745 turbines were erected on land across Germany last year. The association put the newly installed capacity at 3,576 MW. The gross addition was therefore a good 48 percent higher than in 2022.
The FA Wind has published the results and analysis of the new acceptance survey on the internet.
Author: Manfred Fischer
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