For the continuous expansion of renewable energies for primary energy and electricity supply, the acceptance and support of broad sections of the population and stakeholders was and is urgently required. On the one hand, because, for example, affected residents were able to prevent a planned wind or solar farm in their community as part of approval procedures, and on the other hand, because it was very much dependent on the commitment of municipal stakeholders and their cooperation whether RE projects in the respective municipalities received increased promotion and support and were ultimately realised. The financing of RE projects by private investors and the consumption of "green electricity" could also decline due to a lack of acceptance and thus counteract the desired further expansion.

The topic of acceptance of renewable energies was characterised by a high degree of complexity and had several problem levels:

  • There were conflicts of interest between the expansion of renewable energies and the negative impact of plants on other interests, such as nature conservation. Localised adverse effects (such as noise and changes to the landscape) often stood in the way of global benefits.
  • Economic aspects were assessed very differently. While voices from the industry often emphasised the risks to competitiveness, surveys of the general public pointed to rather little criticism of the subsidisation of renewable energies to date.
  • Municipalities and their administrations have a key role to play in the promotion, utilisation and propagation of renewable energies. However, the practice of municipal energy policy to date has mostly been limited to a fraction of the possible municipal measures, such as the management of public properties. Existing opportunities to create user-friendly structures, co-operation and funding mechanisms to provide greater incentives for the use of renewable energies by private operators or civic initiatives have not yet been fully exploited.

 

The research project analysed issues at all three levels. The research project is divided into two sub-projects:

  • Sub-project A: Development of a Strategic Municipal Energy Policy (SKEP) for the utilisation of renewable energy sources. The results were set out in a generally understandable brochure. This brochure had a print run of 2,000 copies and was sold out immediately.
  • Sub-project B: Acceptance study of renewable energies at regional level

 

Together with the relevant stakeholders, strategies were developed in a series of workshops on how to promote acceptance of renewable energy technologies and intensify their use at regional and local level.

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