Stakeholder responses to wave and bio energy

1
Stakeholder responses to wave and bio energy

• Public engagement in sustainable energy futures
  lessons from practice
• The University of Salford
• 22nd October
• Carly McLachlan
• Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
• The University of Manchester
• c.mclachlan_at_manchester.ac.uk

2
Overview

• Siting controversy
• Case studies
• Key themes
• Knowledge and expertise
• Consultation and planning
• Symbolism
• Conclusions and lessons

3
Renewable energy siting controversy

• Previous work
• Wind energy
• Market research approach
• Language of NIMBY and irrationality

4
Wave Hub Hayle, Cornwall,UK

• Underwater socket
• Up to four arrays can be plugged in
• 20MW maximum capacity of onshore cabling

sourcewavehub.co.uk
sourcewavehub.co.uk
5
Wave Hub

• Wave height
• Surfers Against Sewage small price to pay
• Sunday Times article beginning of a barrage,
  wave quality not been assessed, better
  alternative sites
• Additional stakeholders concerned
• Safety of navigation

Sourcesas.org.uk
Sourcesas.org.uk
6
Consultation for Wave Hub

• Public consultation in form of leaflets and open
  session
• Press coverage
• Mainly focussed on stakeholders
• Surfers, shipping, fishing, environmental
• Issues of representation
• Shipping and fishing interests wanted site to be
  moved and IMO exclusion zone
• Surfers wanted assurances on wave impact,
  alternative (Scotland) site, independent review

7
Eccleshall biomass, Staffordshire, UK

• Miscanthus and clean woodchip
• 2.6MWe
• Connected to National Grid, August 2007

8
Eccleshall

• Original proposal for Miscanthus plant little
  opposition
• Miscanthus shortfall and fuel has to be covered
  larger buildings
• Developer led local consultation on first
  application, not on second
• Developers say it is the same principle,
  objectors say a totally different proposal
• Concerns over
• transparency of consultation process
• Impact on emissions of using wood
• precedent for further development and other fuels
• rural benefits
• Cancer and nuclear fears feature in local
  press

9
Approach

• Semi-structured questioning of respondents
• As much unprompted material as possible press,
  statements, interviews, planning file, email
  objections
• Understanding the different explanations and
  justifications of opposition and support

10
Key themes

• Knowledge and expertise
• Consultation and planning
• Symbolism

11
Knowledge and expertise

• Contested status
• Own local experts (traditionally qualified or
  experience)
• Some issues not solely the domain of expertise
  publics have their own knowledge
• Eccleshall screening and damage to hedge rows
• Wave Hub stories of previous navigation
  problems
• Dynamic assessing this status throughout
  different phases of development

12
Consultation

• Dynamic nature of trust and confidence
• Built up over a number of episodes
• Ethos of consultation
• Does consultation lead anywhere?
• Are non experts excluded?
• What is flexible and what is not?
• Procedural and distributional justice

13
Symbolism

• Symbolism
• stewardship ugly technology destroying
  landscape progress harking back to the past
• Prompted, assumed polarity

14
Place

• Previous focus upon landscape
• Blot on treasured landscape, official
  recognition/accreditation
• A more interactive relationship
• A location with meaning (Cresswell, 2004)

15
Technology symbolism

• Impact assessments
• Single objective assessments vs. Multiple
  interpretations
• technologies are not simply given but are
  varyingly constructed, experienced, worried over
  and enjoyed Irwin (2001 136)
• Wider social constellations
• Society, nature and knowledge
• Climate change and energy security agendas

16
Place

• Scales
• Economically vulnerable
• Place as a resource
• Place as nature
• Ownership

17

• Ownership
• The hubs pinching something up to 35 of the
  waves energy (Email objection, p23a)
• The Eccleshall plant provides the opportunity
  for the people of Staffordshire to show their
  colours and make a real difference. (Eccleshall,
  National Farmers Union letter of support to
  planning department)

18
Technology

• Environmental status(contested)
• Materiality
• Experiment/pioneering
• Commercial project/ symbolic ownership
• Precedent
• Industrial or at one with Mother
• Nature?

source wavehub.co.uk
19

• Commercial project/symbolic ownership
• The Eccleshall Biomass power plant will generate
  enough power to supply over) 2000 homes in the
  Eccleshall Area (Eccleshall, Letter to planning
  department from developer

20

• Industrial or at one with Mother Nature
• The proposed power station, to become
  operational in 2008, will involve anchoring 20
  sets of turbines, pistons and pumps 10 miles
  offshore in the path of the Atlantic
  swell.(Booth, 2006)
• Wont cause any harm to anyone, cause you cant
  beat natural products can you?(Eccleshall,
  Interview 6, p14)

21
Conclusions and lessons

• Many generic renewable energy issues
• Dont assume marine will be an easy alternative
  to wind
• Assumed positive messages and images can be seen
  negatively
• Complex interaction over symbolic ownership
• Green status not universally accepted
• Beyond visual impact