Wind Farmer's Almanac

A shock only to the Alliance - strong support for wind power from people living nearby in Scotland and Ireland

"Research conducted by an academic at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in the United Kingdom shows that large majorities of people in Scotland and Ireland are strongly in favor of their local existing wind farm," according to the latest "Wind Energy Weekly" report from the American Wind Energy Association. "Those living near the sites of proposed projects are less supportive, according to the poll."

"A team led by Dr. Charles Warren of the School of Geography and Geosciences studied the perceptions and actual experiences of those with a wind farm in their 'backyard' and found overwhelming support for the technology (emphasis added). Although people living near the site of a proposed project are usually less convinced, sizeable majorities still support their construction."

"Research was carried out at several wind farms in the Scottish Borders and in Southwest Ireland," reports AWEA, a wind industry advocate. "Warren established that - although people expected a range of negative impacts - these fears were not realized. In most cases, people found that their worries about landscape impacts and noise were unfounded, with surprising numbers even finding the wind farms a positive addition. These findings are consistent with similar surveys of people living near wind farms."

"Several hundred people were interviewed at Dun Law and Black Hill in the Scottish Borders, and Currabwee, Milane Hill, and Beenageeha in Southwest Ireland. The research was conducted in July and August 2003 and is published in the November 2005 issue of the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management," the AWEA report states. 

"According to a BBC article about the poll results, 91 percent of those living near the existing Dun Law site support their local wind farm. At the proposed Black Hill site, only 58 percent of those living closest to the site supported its construction. The poll also showed that 24 percent of those living near the Dun Law site had changed their opinion since the project was built, overwhelmingly becoming more positive."

"In the Irish counties of Cork and Kerry, 73 percent of respondents reportedly told researchers that their initial fears about wind farms were not realized. Sixty-two percent of those polled said they thought the aesthetic impact was positive, as opposed to 23 percent who said it was negative."

According to Warren, "the press, it seems, give disproportionate emphasis to the vocal minority that opposes wind power while ignoring the silent, contended and less newsworthy majority."

"At the same time, Warren called for a strategic planning framework to guide the location of wind development and reduce uncertainty around cumulative development effects," AWEA reports.

"The study found that opponents of wind farms typically focus on local environmental effects such as noise and landscape impacts, whereas those who favor them often focus on global environmental problems and the need to adopt renewable energy as part of the solution."
(photo credit: British Wind Energy Association)