TY - JOUR
TI - Keep wind projects close? A case study of distance, culture, and cost in offshore and onshore wind energy siting
AU - Lamy, J
AU - de Bruin, W
AU - Azevedo, I
AU - Morgan, M
T2 - Energy Research & Social Science
AB - We use a conjoint-based discrete choice survey to examine willingness-to-accept of different characteristics of hypothetical wind projects. Our study includes participants from two Massachusetts (U.S.) coastal municipalities (Gloucester and Rockport) that have an existing onshore wind project (n = 192). Participants were presented with several alternatives for new wind projects with varying attributes including: town location, site within the location (and thus distance from a participant's home), savings on a participant's energy bill, and increased tax revenue. We find little evidence that participants preferred living far from projects, even within 1 mile. Participants preferred onshore to offshore projects, and required $17/month of compensation to be willing to accept an offshore project. This result may have been driven by the coastal community's prior positive experience with an existing onshore wind project, as well as a cultural identity that favors unobstructed ocean views. Our results further the understanding of the perceived costs of living near wind projects and provide insights to developers and policymakers on how best to increase installed capacity of wind energy.
DA - 2020/05//
PY - 2020
VL - 63
SP - 101377
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221462961831185X
DO - 10.1016/j.erss.2019.101377
LA - English
KW - Wind Energy
KW - Land-Based Wind
KW - Fixed Offshore Wind
KW - Human Dimensions
KW - Social & Economic Data
ER -