Posters
Come meet the poster presenters to ask them questions and discuss their work
We would like to invite you to come and see the posters at our upcoming conference. The posters will showcase a diverse range of research topics, and will give delegates an opportunity to engage with the authors and learn more about their work. Whether you are a seasoned researcher or simply curious about the latest developments in your field, we believe that the posters will offer something of interest to everyone. So please join us at the conference and take advantage of this opportunity to learn and engage with your peers in the academic community. We look forward to seeing you there!
PO073: Challenges and opportunities around effective and just wind energy in Portugal
Filipe Alves, Senior Researcher, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon
Abstract
Wind energy in Portugal has had a curious history. After an initial formative phase near 1990, with a slow but steady growth, wind energy had a rapid up-scaling and growth phase after 2001 thanks to government incentives. There was little public engagement during this period. After the economic crisis hit Europe in 2008, and a change in government in 2012, wind energy development stalled, with fewer than 10 wind parks being build every year. Now, thanks to new government incentives and the REPowerEU plan, the Portuguese government has turned to offshore wind energy, with promises to have an installed offshore wind capacity of 10 GW until 2030. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that resistance to wind projects is increasing because of concerns with environmental impacts, which may compromise the government's goals. How can government and project developers engage with and involve local communities to increase social acceptance to new wind energy projects? This work is part of the project JustWind4All, which aims to accelerate the development of on- and offshore wind energy, including emerging technologies, through effective and fair governance. By integrating insights from various disciplines and societal perspectives, the project facilitates coordination and participation in wind energy actions. In this presentation, we will present a brief history of wind energy in Portugal focused on governance, and preliminary results about how the public engaged with these projects through time. We conducted a scoping review to triangulate critical instances of change in wind energy history, and interviews to complement knowledge gaps and obtain in-field knowledge. Our results suggest that Portugal is in a good position to create offshore wind projects that engage with local communities and reach innovative solutions that take into account the interests and values of all actors involved.
