Renewable energy and social-economic development in the north of the Netherlands: in search of synergies
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Date
2016
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AESOP
Abstract
In contrast to conventional energy extraction and production based on fossil fuels, RNE production (e.g. wind energy, energy crops) requires vast amounts of space and is highly visible. Its implications for the landscape make RNE a highly contested matter prone to societal resistance (e.g. Struntz 2014). Simultaneously, the opportunities offered by renewable energy RNE) development to solving area-based social-economic issues, and by extension making vulnerable places more resilient, are increasingly signaled in academic literature (Avelino et al, 2012; De Boer & Zuidema, 2015; Seyfang & Haxeltine, 2012). Literature on integrated energy landscapes suggests that RNE initiatives need to be integrated within their social-spatial contexts and, when doing so, are able to provide social and economic benefits for the areas in which they are integrated (De Boer & Zuidema, 2015). However, whether such opportunities provided by RNE for solving area-based social-economic issues are also recognized and considered by different levels of government remains unclear. Hence, the objective of this paper is to explore the perceived role of RNE in government policy and planning, in connection to the social-economic and spatial context in the Netherlands. Our area of interest is the North of the Netherlands, particularly the coastal and predominantly rural region of (North-East) Groningen. This area profiles itself as the ‘energy portal’ of the Netherlands while simultaneously dealing with a complex combination of opportunities and challenges related to both energy and social-economic issues.
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Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the south
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