Green energy: planning for wind mill parks

Several factors, such as global warming, rising oil prices and - more recently - nuclear disasters highlight the need for increasing the production of green energy . Due to its location, the Botnia-Atlantica region has favorable preconditions for the establishmemt of wind mill parks.

In all three countries there is a broad political consensus in the ambitions to expand the amount of energy produced by wind mills. However, the actual development on the ground is lagging behind. In fact, there are numerous obstacles that delay the fulfillment of wind mill projects and some of them have been related to the planning procedures on different administrative levels. There are also differences between the three countries and the sub-regions that are part of the case study area. Within the Botnia-Atlantica region there are examples of relatively efficient and smooth planning processes as well as processes where the proposals for wind mill parks has caused a lot of conflicts regarding for instance environmental protection and landscape qualities. The opinion among local citizens, second home owners, tourism entrepreneurs and various other stakeholders has also been diverse. The activity will focus on comparisons of the ways in which these difficult concerns are balanced, and decisions taken in the three countries. What facts are presented and how are conflicting considerations resolved? Who are involved? What are their main arguments? What about national regulations and planning practices, as well as local involvement and participation in development projects?

Activity 5 is coordinated by senior researcher Bjarne Lindelöv, the University of Nordland, in cooperation with fil. Dr. Örjan Pettersson, Umeå University.

The research plan for Umeå university (in Swedish)

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