This document summarizes a presentation on engaging communities in offshore wind projects. It discusses: 1) The need to work with communities as offshore energy is not "out of sight, out of mind" due to onshore infrastructure and impacts on coastal communities. Forcing projects without community buy-in creates distrust. 2) Achieving "energy justice" requires fair processes, recognizing affected communities, and distributing benefits. This includes early and ongoing engagement, incorporating local knowledge, and ensuring engagement is accessible. 3) Distributing benefits fairly means addressing inequality by widely sharing climate benefits while ensuring costs fall on those who can pay. Benefits should be part of ongoing discussion, not to "buy" support, and include options

1. www.seai.ie
National Energy
Research and Policy
Conference 2022
Societal Transformation

2. www.seai.ie
Dr Claire Haggett
University of Edinburgh
Engaging communities in
offshore wind projects

3. Offshore energy not
‘out of sight, out of mind’
• Siting issues not necessarily removed
offshore
• Structure-less backdrop
• Populations near or using coasts
• Attachment to beaches and coastline
• Cumulative impact
• Onshore substations and cabling

4. Need to work alongside
communities:
• The right thing to do, to achieve
mutually beneficial outcomes
• Forcing things through – creates wider
objections, cynicism, and distrust
• Development done badly affects all
projects; done well has the potential to
benefit all
• Opportunity for better decisions and
outcomes incorporating local
knowledge
Aitken, Haggett, and Rudolph (2016)

5. A Just Transition towards
clean energy…
Aitken, Haggett, and Rudolph (2016)
• Engaging communities
as part of a ‘just
transition’ towards
clean energy
• Striving to achieve
‘energy justice’ in the
development of new
projects
1. Recognising those
affected
2. Fair processes and
procedures
3. Distributing benefits

6. 1) Recognising the
communities for
offshore energy projects
Rudolph, Haggett, and Aitken (2017)

7. Rudolph, Haggett, and Aitken (2017)
Definition of community:
Wide area/region
Understanding of benefit:
Sharing the benefits from
a nation’s natural
resources
Perception of impact:
Positive impact

8. Rudolph, Haggett, and Aitken (2017)
Definition of community:
Narrow and specific
communities of locality
Understanding of benefit:
Good neighhour, CSR,
acknowledging hosting
Perception of impact:
Disammenity or negative
impact; fairness

9. Different community benefit
schemes
Hornsea and Race Bank wind farms Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm

10. Identifying communities through their
relationship to impact and benefit

11. Principles: Are these (perceived to be) pre-determined? Important to be
clear about what can/’t be achieved
Timing: Should be early and ongoing; upstream or ‘front-loading’ the
engagement processes
Approach: Not top down, but co-production of the knowledge base on
which any plans are built
Access: Widely available, not just reinforcing existing power
relations/objectives – proactively identifying and offering opportunities
Methods: Facilitating engagement and deliberation; also about enabling
inclusivity; and making sure that engagement is appropriate and tailored
to particular groups
Feedback: Ensuring that outcomes and results are clearly communicated –
and how and why they are based on the contributions and deliberations
2) Engaging communities effectively: procedural justice
Haggett, ten Brink, Russell, Roach, Firestone, Dalton, and McCay (2020)

12. Key aspect of process: the importance of feeding back – and making changes
Aim of community engagement:
“provide an opportunity for the relevant local communities to put forward their ideas and
have a role in developing proposals where they can have an influence”
Haggett et al, 2020

13. • Distributional justice and the ‘just transition’
• Often perceptions of a disparity between the global benefits
of wind power and the effect on the local vicinity
3) Distributing benefits fairly

14. Fair distribution of costs and benefits: address existing economic and social inequality
by sharing the benefits of climate action widely, while ensuring that the costs are
distributed on the basis of ability to pay

15. Delivery of benefits: not ‘buying’ support
“…sharing the benefits of climate action widely…”
• Sometimes assumed that benefits will generate greater social
acceptance
• Research is very clear that this is not the case
• This assumes that any changes can be mitigated through monetary
payments, and that there is a ‘price’ for landscape or visual change
• Research very strongly finds that benefits are appropriate when
they are part of a bigger and ongoing commitment from developers
to local communities in an open and ongoing process of discussion
and deliberation
• Fair process that is most important
• Issues of trust, legitimacy and fairness are likely to be paramount in
determining community perceptions of benefit proposals and
governance

16. Range of different sorts of benefits:
• Community funds
• Apprenticeships
• Educational programmes
• Direct investments and funding local facilities
and projects
• Shared ownership
Will vary depending on the scale, siting, and
nature of the project and the location
Rudolph, Haggett, and Aitken (2016)

17. If it’s the right thing to do – and the practical thing to
do – to work alongside communities…
If they’re often in support but turn against an
application because of aspects of it or because of the
processes of developing it...
What can learnt from two decades of academic
research from around the world...?
So where to go from here…?

18. 1) Identify the communities and the
people who matter
Proactive work in local areas
Demonstrate an understanding of
local issues
Capitalise on the heritage of an area –
addressing issues that arise there
Work and effort involved worthwhile
2) Open and ongoing communication
and engagement
Using methods that are appropriate
Utilise local knowledge and experience
Working to develop good relationships

19. 3) Exploring and creating local, direct, tangible, immediate benefits
• As part of ongoing consultation and engagement
• As part of a fair and open and transparent process
• Involving people to create something new
• Finding related activities or projects that require support
• Funding a project with stakeholders who matter
• Building ‘energy communities’...

20. www.seai.ie
For more information please contact:
Dr Claire Haggett
School of Social and Political Science
University of Edinburgh
claire.haggett@ed.ac.uk
Thank You