Local aspects of UK renewable energy development: exploring public beliefs and policy implications

Despite several recent UK initiatives to promote renewable energy development at the local level, little research has been carried out to investigate public beliefs about aspects of local renewable energy development. This research attempted to address this gap. Empirical data were collected at the Awel Aman Tawe development in South Wales immediately before and after a public participation process. The results indicate that support for specific aspects of local energy development (partnership with local communities, local use of generated energy and profits put back into the local community) was consistently high across time, with support for local ownership at a slightly lower level, yet still high. Secondly, socio-demographical analyses indicated that personal factors such as respondents' age, gender and employment status were important in shaping several of these beliefs. Since UK renewable energy development has often been controversial and subject to delay, results suggest that the adoption of a locally embedded development approach by public and private sector stakeholders will be strongly supported by local people. The implications of the results are discussed in relation to existing industry best practice guidelines and recent policy initiatives.