Wind energy perceptions: The relevance of convention theory to social acceptability : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master at Lincoln University

Abstract

Wind energy is touted as the cheapest large-scale source of renewable energy. From wind’s global potential of 60 TW-year/year, 10% are exploitable, which represents four times the global electricity consumption. Nonetheless, wind farms have brought controversy and conflicts to many of the communities in which they have been built. To understand this conflict, it is fundamental to comprehend the contradictive representations of wind energy held by developers and communities. The inability to establish shared common values around wind farms makes socio-economic coordination difficult to achieve. This research investigates one socially contested wind farm in the community of Xavier in the Northeast region of Brazil. The objective is to discover how wind energy is represented by industry and community and assess how reducing the conflict could be achieved. This study will use Convention Theory (CT) to assess the symbolic representations of each group. To collect the data, 19 people in the chosen community were asked to participate in a focus group. In addition, three industry representatives were interviewed. Data was coded with the software MAXQDA to analyse the discourses from each group and framed it according to CT. The results show relevant findings: the physical aspect of the wind farm is not relevant to Xavier and while the community focused on environmental justifications and the industry had a market-oriented perspective, civic justifications appear to be the shared common values through which social acceptability could improve. However, symbolism was not relevant. These results are discussed considering previous literature findings and the implications for future research.