The implementation of small-scale, community-owned wind energy: a policy analysis in Flanders, Belgium
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Date
2016
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AESOP
Abstract
Since the liberalization of the EU energy market in 2003, roughly 75% of the Flemish energy sector is owned by large foreign corporations (Vinck, 2007). Compared to other EU-countries, the production of wind energy in community-ownership remains fairly limited at a share of 3.8% (Sansen, 2014). Coupled with a declining local support base for the implementation of wind turbines, the future of a comprehensive energy transition with an inclusion of social and cultural components remains uncertain (VILT, 2012). Researchers stress that a range of pressing sustainability-issues nonetheless require a radical reform rather than a gradual transition within the contours of the current system. They call for a co-evolutionary approach: a successful transition requires a system-wide approach for the creation of sustainable and structural support at the local level (STRN, 2010).
The implementation of wind energy in Flanders is at the crossroads of different policy levels, causing clashes of interest and therefore serving as a striking example of the difficult (social) energy transition in the region. Firstly, issues surrounding the location of wind turbines exceed the local level by the increasing capacities and height of wind turbines. Both the Flemish government and the subordinate regions claim their stake in the debate and policy-making, each with their own approach for realizing the pressing energy transition. Secondly, the benefits of wind energy are primarily situated at the macro-level, in the form of carbon reduction and the achievement of EU objectives, while disadvantages in turn are for the local residents at the municipal level in the form of noise and visual pollution.
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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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