Bouke Wiersma

Changing Senses of Place - August 2021

Consultation is increasingly viewed as a critical factor in renewable energy development, including ocean energy (OE) development. Failure to consult the community and other stakeholders and failure to employ the appropriate methods for consultation will, in many instances, impact the successful development and implementation of the OE project. This chapter provides a concise summary of key issues related to the principles and practices of consultation, drawing on renewable energy scholarly literature and specifically OE literature. Key concepts including ‘social license’ and ‘social acceptance’ are explored in more depth, as well as the role of consultation in mitigating conflict related to other uses of the marine environment.

Debates surrounding the decarbonisation of energy systems in developed societies have been overlaid with controversy about the merits of decentralised or “community” energy. These are ambiguous concepts, implicating energy generation or demand reduction activities carried out in buildings or across neighbourhood or urban areas, as well as social and political aspects such as trust and communitarian relations amongst participating actors. This research was based on the criticism that most existing advocacy for, and research into decentralised energy (DE) has neglected the spatiality of such initiatives. In particular, the concept of “local” has been largely presumed to be self-evident and unproblematic. Drawing on the analysis of primary and secondary data from nine UK case studies, this study reveals the different degrees to which DE initiatives are locally embedded, dependent upon the sector of the instigating actors. Findings also reveal the multi-dimensionality of discourses of DE, going beyond purely physical or technical aspects to encompass social, spatial and political issues that are intertwined in complex patterns. In particular, it reveals how aspirations to “roll out” successful DE initiatives, consistent with broader policy goals for carbon reduction, are challenged by discourses of local uniqueness and “bottom-up” engagement. Future research is required to investigate the generalisability of the patterns observed.