WISE Power report – Fostering social acceptance for wind power

Wind energy is the most mature of the existing renewable energy technologies and plays a fundamental role in the current energy transition. Yet, its social acceptance and community engagement and public participation in wind energy projects, particularly onshore, remains a challenge.

This report summarises the WISE Power project’s key findings with regard to social acceptance status quo, innovative financing models, improved local engagement, and support for wind turbines, while enhancing local community participation in the planning and operation phases of wind energy projects. Although this report is built around the project objectives and activities, readers developing their own community energy project can find valuable information on the the social acceptance of wind farms in chapter 4. These pages offer insights on the social acceptance of wind projects, highlighting the importance of public participation and providing options to overcome opposition to the projects, and explain innovative financing models focusing on how they best contribute to enhancing social acceptance. Moreover, five case studies are described and analysed to provide further understanding of the topic.