Just and effective governance for accelerating wind energy

Project Information

JustWind4All

Grant agreement ID: 101083936

DOI

10.3030/101083936

Project closed

EC signature date 22 September 2022

Start date 1 November 2022

End date 31 October 2025

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 2 786 908,00

EU contribution

€ 2 786 907,75

Coordinated by

DUTCH RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR TRANSITIONS BV
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - JustWind4All (Just and effective governance for accelerating wind energy)

Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2024-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

To achieve the full potential of both on- and offshore wind energy across Europe in a sustainable manner, JW4A aims to support its acceleration through just and effective governance. That is, the creation of synergies among people and organisations to coordinate and participate in actions around wind energy strategies and deployment. JW4A develops knowledge, practical guidelines, instruments, strategies, and trainings for just and effective decision-making in on- and offshore wind energy development. This move is crucial in the context of ambitious EU renewable energy targets. These require installing more and larger on- and offshore wind farms, and a speeding up of the planning and deployment processes whilst ensuring no one is left behind.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Holistic impact assessment: JW4A has increased the resolution of the wind-energy capabilities of ENBIOS, a python framework for the socio-environmental assessment of energy transition scenarios; created a WindTrace model calculating life cycle inventories; tested ENBIOS via a pilot case study and developed a first draft of a metric library for the holistic assessment of wind energy impacts.
Energy system modelling: JW4A has further developed the open-source European energy system model Euro-Calliope to now include airborne and floating wind technologies, and a higher spatial resolution to cover more detail in different possible offshore wind deployment areas.
Wind energy citizenship and appraisal: JW4A has developed a database of more than 300 participatory practices and social innovations. Based on interviews and document & media analysis, JW4A has analysed the challenges and opportunities around effective and just wind energy governance in seven European regions: North Holland/NL; MidtVest/DK; Catalonia/ES; Center-North/PT; Koroska/SI; Severoiztochen/BG; Brandenburg/DE. Twelve qualitative scenarios for effective and just wind energy have been developed, and seven dialogues organized for inter- and transdisciplinary knowledge integration.
Wind Forum: JW4A’s Wind Forum for knowledge exchange and dialogue has expanded to 591 participants through targeted activities across Europe Substantial part of this Wind Forum are the Wind labs, which focus on developing participatory practices in offshore developments/Bulgaria, financial participation in repowering/Portugal, participatory practices for airborne wind/Germany, maritime spatial planning for offshore wind infrastructure/North Sea basin, and developing a compass for decision-making/Cross-regions. A total of 273 wind energy governance actors co-produced knowledge and action in 15 co-production activities. The work follows shared principles and is supported by a Reflexive Monitoring process.
Dissemination, communication, and exploitation: JW4A has established and further developed its communication infrastructure, including the website, social media channels (LinkedIn, X and Youtube), newsletter audience base, visual identity and promotional materials. Project updates reached over 15.000 individuals over social media and over 3200 through the website, with a steady increase as the project progresses.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Impact assessment & energy modelling: The link between ENBIOS and Calliope in JW4A is a one-of-a-kind suite, connecting energy and socio-environmental modelling and offering a robust and tested way to assess the socio-environmental trade-offs of the energy transition, in particular of the implementation of wind energy. First results show that emerging technologies, such as airborne wind can play a complementary role to existing wind technologies by exploiting otherwise-inaccessible parts of the wind resource.
Social acceptance & energy citizenship: Current debates often explain the delay in wind energy development through pointing to local resistance due to NIMBY attitudes or missing social acceptance. Moving beyond singular explanations, JW4A systematically captured more than 300 examples of participatory practices and social innovations in a database, showing the diversity of ways through which citizens engage with wind energy development. It also provides insights into how wind energy has been governed over time in seven European regions, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities in wind energy development. Analytical work has started to advance an understanding of wind energy governance that is both effective (i.e. taking account of the urgency involved in decarbonising economies) and just (i.e. taking account of the political consequences of wind energy developments).
Stakeholder engagement: Through working on concrete challenges in a co-productive manner with a diverse range of stakeholders, academic and practitioners’ expertise is integrated, knowledge exchanged, transfer and dialogue enabled.

JustWind4All Consortium

EUSEW Session 2024

Wind Energy