Local renewables for local places? Attitudes to renewable energy and the role of communities in place-based renewable energy development

This chapter discusses the concept of community-based renewable energy (RE) development in relation to themes of place and place-based community. We start from the assumption that there is a need for more RE, and look at how this might be achieved in the UK, focusing on rural places.1 Increasing RE capacity addresses the twin goals of mitigating climate change and increasing energy security (HM Government 2009). Since RE targets are unlikely to be met under current trends (UKERC 2009), new approaches to increasing capacity are required. Historically, energy policy has favoured large-scale RE development, especially wind power, by large private companies which currently dominate the energy market (Woodman and Baker 2008). However, public opposition to proposed developments has sparked interest in the potential for more localised RE development centred on geographic communities (Walker et al 2007; Rogers et al 2008). This chapter explores how perceptions of place affect the potential for community-based RE development. After briefly reviewing the literature on public attitudes to RE, showing how interpretations of place influence attitudes, a case study of a community-based RE project2 is presented to illustrate how and why this approach can work in practice. We then consider the implications for future development of place-based RE projects