Mapping Value Perspectives on Wind Power Projects: The Case of the Danish Test Centre for Large Wind Turbines

Social acceptance of wind power is a complex matter, and national public interest does not necessarily translate into local public interest. If community concerns is disregarded in public spatial planning and the private development of wind power projects, the expected increase in the production of wind power energy will be jeopardized.

Value propositions for installing wind farms in a community often consider only national policy targets, end users and those organizations that make a profit on installing, running or owning a wind turbine power plant. In many cases, the impact of technologies on society is underestimated, especially the impact on those actors who are influenced by technological change but without perceived benefit.

This paper applies a value framework to systematically analyse the perceived value of the National Test Centre for Large Wind Turbines in Denmark, considering different stakeholder dimensions of acceptance (socio-political, market and community) from four perspectives (economic, psychological, sociological and environmental) before arriving at some policy recommendations on how to incorporate community values when siting wind turbines.