The role of public participation in identifying stakeholder synergies in wind power project development: The case study of Ontario, Canada

2014 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 194-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anahita A.N. Jami ◽  
Philip R. Walsh
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anahita Asadolahniajami

the past several decades, the scope of decision-making in the public domain has changed from a focus on unilateral regulatory verdicts to a more comprehensive process that engages all stakeholders. Consequently, there has been a distinct increase in public participation in the environmental decision-making process. While the potential benefits of public engagement are substantial in terms of identifying synergies between public and industry stakeholders that encourage project development, this participation does not come without its challenges. To meet global energy demands and fulfill ambitious targets for greenhouse gas reduction, renewable energy has received increased attention as a feasible alternative to conventional sources of energy. However, current literature on renewable energy, particularly on wind power, highlights potential social barriers to renewable energy investment. This study investigates the role of public participation by reviewing two case studies of the Ontario wind power generation market to identify the facilitators and constrainers that affected public input into wind project development in Ontario and recommends a participatory framework in the hope of improving public engagement in the wind project development decision-making process. The recommended framework in this research requires all stakeholders to reconsider their current roles in the decision-making process. The public should engage in project planning and monitor the decision-making processes to ensure that their concerns have been addressed. Developers should address public concerns through a consensus building process initiated early in their planning process. Federal and provincial governments have to reclaim their role of ongoing leadership and provide better criteria for implementation and evaluation of the public participation processes. Finally, the process requires a third party who is not only an intermediary, but also plays the role of a knowledge-broker to connect with stakeholders, share and exchange knowledge, and work on overcoming barriers. The knowledge-broker helps to fulfill the main requirement of the collaborative decision-making, which is effective communication.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anahita Asadolahniajami

the past several decades, the scope of decision-making in the public domain has changed from a focus on unilateral regulatory verdicts to a more comprehensive process that engages all stakeholders. Consequently, there has been a distinct increase in public participation in the environmental decision-making process. While the potential benefits of public engagement are substantial in terms of identifying synergies between public and industry stakeholders that encourage project development, this participation does not come without its challenges. To meet global energy demands and fulfill ambitious targets for greenhouse gas reduction, renewable energy has received increased attention as a feasible alternative to conventional sources of energy. However, current literature on renewable energy, particularly on wind power, highlights potential social barriers to renewable energy investment. This study investigates the role of public participation by reviewing two case studies of the Ontario wind power generation market to identify the facilitators and constrainers that affected public input into wind project development in Ontario and recommends a participatory framework in the hope of improving public engagement in the wind project development decision-making process. The recommended framework in this research requires all stakeholders to reconsider their current roles in the decision-making process. The public should engage in project planning and monitor the decision-making processes to ensure that their concerns have been addressed. Developers should address public concerns through a consensus building process initiated early in their planning process. Federal and provincial governments have to reclaim their role of ongoing leadership and provide better criteria for implementation and evaluation of the public participation processes. Finally, the process requires a third party who is not only an intermediary, but also plays the role of a knowledge-broker to connect with stakeholders, share and exchange knowledge, and work on overcoming barriers. The knowledge-broker helps to fulfill the main requirement of the collaborative decision-making, which is effective communication.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anahita A. Jami ◽  
Philip R. Walsh

A wider use of renewable energy is emerging as a viable solution to meet the increasing demand for global energy while contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, current literature on renewable energy, particularly on wind power, highlights the social barriers and public opposition to renewable energy investment. One solution to overcome the public opposition, which is recommended by scholars, is to deploy a collaborative approach. Relatively little research has specifically focused on the role of effective communication and the use of a knowledge-broker in collaborative decision-making. This study attempts to fill this gap through the proposition of a participatory framework that highlights the role of the knowledge-broker in a wind project decision-making process. In this paper, five illustrative wind projects in Ontario are used to highlight the current situation with public participation and to address how the proposed framework could have improved the process. Based on the recommended collaborative framework, perception must shift from the dominant view of the public as “a risk to be managed” towards “a resource that can be tapped”. The developers need to improve sharing what they know and foster co-learning around questions and concerns.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 2309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos Agathokleous ◽  
Jimmy Ehnberg

A significant amount of conventional power plants in the European power system is anticipated to be replaced by solar and wind power in the future. This may require alternative sources for inertia support. The purpose of the paper is to learn about the consequences on the frequency deviation after a fault in the European power system when more wind and solar are introduced and when wind is considered as a possible provider of inertia. This study quantifies the expected maximum requirement for additional inertia in the future European power system up to 2050. Furthermore, we investigated the possibility of wind power to meet this additional need by providing emulated inertia. The European power system of the EU-28 countries has been clustered to the five synchronous grids, UCTE, Nordic, UK, Baltic and Irish. The future European energy mix is simulated considering twelve different scenarios. Production units are dispatched according to their expected environmental impacts, which closely follow the minimum natural contribution of inertia, in descending order. The available capacity for all the types of production is considered the same as the installed. For all the simulated scenarios the worst case is examined, which means that a sudden disconnection of the largest production unit of the dispatched types is considered. Case study results reveal that, in most cases, additional inertia will be required but wind power may fully cover this need for up to 84% of all simulated horizons among all the scenarios on the UCTE grid, and for up to 98%, 86%, 99% and 86% on the Nordic, UK, Baltic and Irish grids, respectively.


2013 ◽  
Vol 448-453 ◽  
pp. 1871-1874
Author(s):  
Yuan Xie

China has great potential in offshore wind energy and makes an ambitious target for offshore wind power development. Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of offshore wind turbines become more and more important for China wind industry. This study introduces the current offshore wind power projects in China. Donghai Bridge Offshore Demonstration Wind Farm (Donghai Bridge Project) is the first commercial offshore wind power project in China, which was connected to grid in June 2010. O&M of Donghai Bridge Project represent the state-of-the-art of China offshore O&M. During the past two and half years, O&M of Donghai Bridge Project has gone through three phases and stepped into a steady stage. Its believed that analysis of O&M of Donghai Bridge Project is very helpful for Chinas offshore wind power in the future.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anahita A. Jami ◽  
Philip R. Walsh

A wider use of renewable energy is emerging as a viable solution to meet the increasing demand for global energy while contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, current literature on renewable energy, particularly on wind power, highlights the social barriers and public opposition to renewable energy investment. One solution to overcome the public opposition, which is recommended by scholars, is to deploy a collaborative approach. Relatively little research has specifically focused on the role of effective communication and the use of a knowledge-broker in collaborative decision-making. This study attempts to fill this gap through the proposition of a participatory framework that highlights the role of the knowledge-broker in a wind project decision-making process. In this paper, five illustrative wind projects in Ontario are used to highlight the current situation with public participation and to address how the proposed framework could have improved the process. Based on the recommended collaborative framework, perception must shift from the dominant view of the public as “a risk to be managed” towards “a resource that can be tapped”. The developers need to improve sharing what they know and foster co-learning around questions and concerns.


Urban Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Foss

Cities are often touted as climate change leaders in the USA and all cities across the country are affected by climate change, but little is known about climate action in politically conservative cities. Using document analysis and interviews, an in-depth case study of two cities in the conservative Dallas-Fort Worth region of Texas examines how public participation and cultural framing contribute to sustainability and climate change planning. One city successfully adopted sustainability plans, while the other city was unable to do so. Comparison of the two cases reveals that carefully designed public participation processes and locally relevant cultural frames can help cities educate residents, build support and expand discussion of sustainability. However, economic development, competition and political controversy prevent cities from addressing climate change explicitly or in meaningful ways, raising concerns about the capacity of cities to act as climate change leaders.


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