How do residents perceive energy-producing kites?

How do residents perceive energy-producing kites?: Comparing the community acceptance of an airborne wind energy system and a wind farm in Germany

Schmidt, H.S. (TU Delft Wind Energy)
Leschinger, Valentin (University of Applied Science and Medical University; Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg)
Müller, Florian J.Y. (University of Applied Science and Medical University)
de Vries, G. (TU Delft Organisation & Governance)
Renes, Reint Jan (Hogeschool van Amsterdam)
Schmehl, R. (TU Delft Wind Energy)
Hübner, Gundula (University of Applied Science and Medical University; Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg)

2024

Airborne wind energy (AWE) is an emerging renewable energy technology that uses kites to harvest winds at higher altitudes than wind turbines. Understanding how residents experience a local AWE system (AWES) is important as the technology approaches commercialization. Such knowledge can help adjust the design and deployment of an AWES to fit locals' needs better, thereby decreasing the technology's burden on people. Although the AWE literature claims that the technology affects nature and residents less than wind turbines, empirical evidence has been lacking. This first community acceptance study recruited residents within a 3.5 km radius of an AWE test site in Northern Germany. Using structured questionnaires, 54 residents rated the AWES and the closest wind farm on visual, sound, safety, siting, environmental, and ecological aspects. Contrary to the literature's claims, residents assessed the noise, ecological, and safety impacts similarly for the AWES and the wind farm. Only visual impacts were rated better for the AWES (e.g., no shadows were perceived). Consistent with research on wind turbines, residents who rated the site operation as fairer and the developer as more transparent tended to have more positive attitudes towards the AWES and to experience less noise annoyance. Consequently, recommendations for the AWE industry and policymakers include mitigating technology impacts and implementing evidence-based strategies to ensure just and effective project development. The findings are limited to one specific AWES using soft-wing kites. Future research should assess community responses across regions and different types of AWESs to test the findings' generalizability.

Airborne wind energy
Wind turbine
Community acceptance
Attitude
Annoyance
Social impacts

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:55dd445a-a888-4b92-b89f-0636cda80dec

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103447

2214-6296

Energy Research and Social Science, 110, 1-15

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2024 H.S. Schmidt, Valentin Leschinger, Florian J.Y. Müller, G. de Vries, Reint Jan Renes, R. Schmehl, Gundula Hübner