Multicriteria analysis of the technical, environmental and social factors triggering the PIMBY principle for Wind technologies

Project Information

WENDY

Grant agreement ID: 101084137

DOI

10.3030/101084137

Project closed

EC signature date 1 September 2022

Start date 1 October 2022

End date 30 September 2025

Funded under

• Climate, Energy and Mobility

Total cost

€ 2 999 687,50

EU contribution

€ 2 999 687,50

Coordinated by

FUNDACION CIRCE CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION DE RECURSOS Y CONSUMOS ENERGETICOS
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - WENDY (Multicriteria analysis of the technical, environmental and social factors triggering the PIMBY principle for Wind technologies)

Reporting period: 2024-04-01 to 2025-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

WENDY aims at unravelling the factors triggering social acceptance of wind farms through an in-depth analysis at three dimensions: social sciences and humanities, environmental sciences and technological engineering.

For that, the project will implement a series of local actions promoting the wider adoption of the project solutions, including guidelines, reports and handbooks which will be created to boost the understanding of wind farms decision making processes and enhance energy citizenship. This will be supported by the spatial multi-criteria WENDY toolbox.

A tool able to identify the optimal turbines’ siting with the minimum environmental impact and highest social acceptance likelihood.

All developed models, methods, guidelines and tools will be implemented within 10 wind projects spread across 4 countries. These have been selected considering: geography (north vs. south Europe), maturity stage (viability phase / planning phase / short-term operation phase / long-term operation phase); type of wind energy (onshore / offshore – floating, fixed-); and co-existence with other activities (agriculture, fisheries, energy communities). In these locations, outreach activities tailored to their specificities will be performed, creating the WENDY Knowledge Hubs which will incorporate citizens, local authorities, business owners and value chain actors of wind energy. WENDY Hubs will serve as a baseline for the WENDY Knowledge Exchange Platform, a forum that will be developed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between decision makers and key stakeholders within wind farms planning processes.

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

During the first 18 months,the following main technical activities have been performed:

- Identification of lessons learnt from lighthouse wind farms that harmoniously coexist with- and encourage participation of local communities.
- Mapping the the framework conditions that may drive or hinder social acceptance of turbines.
- Identify and analyse existing perceptions and awareness levels of wind energy projects.
- Definition of the main challenges and needs regarding wind farms acceptance and participation.
- Development of methods and explore solutions to environmental and technological landscape-level benefits and impacts of wind energy.
- Comprehensive assessment framework for conducting realistic, in-depth evaluations of the cumulative social, technical, and ecological effects of wind farms.
- Roadmaps for the coexistence of turbines and communities in the WENDY pilot cases.
- Methodology preparation for the implementation of behavioural interventions.
- Innovative bird protection system in a wind farm in Spain.
- Framework and design of the KEP platform.


During the second period of the project, the following main technical activities have been performed:

Launch and validation of the Social Acceptance Interventions Tool, integrating behavioural insights and deployed in all pilot areas.

Finalisation of the Spatial Multi-criteria WENDY Toolbox, combining environmental, social and techno-economic modules.

Completion and deployment of the Single Multi-Variable KPI, enabling integrated assessment of social, environmental and technical factors.

Guidelines on consenting processes and community schemes delivered with tailored recommendations.

Pilot-level validation in Spain, Italy, Norway and Greece, applying toolbox, KPI and ES-LCA methods.

Extensive stakeholder engagement, including co-creation workshops and >200 stakeholders mobilised, resulting in coexistence roadmaps.

Execution of five Social Innovation Webinars to support engagement and capacity building.

Behavioural interventions implemented, with pilot and main surveys providing new evidence on drivers of acceptance.

Testing of biodiversity monitoring and mitigation solutions in operational wind farms.

Integrated optimisation of WENDY tools based on pilot feedback.

Deployment of the Knowledge Exchange Platform (v1 & v2) to support knowledge transfer.

Publication of policy recommendations and replication guidelines, supporting broader uptake.

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)

- The main functionalities of WENDY toolbox will be used to approach wind farm owners, other RE operators, aiming to identify the best areas for wind farm locations.
- CIRCE will exploit the s.M.V-KPI together with partners and with other RE operators, analysing new potential areas for wind energy projects. The adoption to other renewable energy sources will be also explored.
- CIRCE will exploit it together with NINA, EGP and WR by approaching other RE operators and analysing potential areas for wind energy projects. The exploitation to other renewable energy sources will be also explored.
- The KEP and NoI will be further exploited to allow regulators, industry and local communities to exchange information and provide input to one another in the use cases regions and beyond.
- The WENDY Knowledge Hubs will support social innovation in the areas under focus while empowering interaction and feedback exchange between wind farm actors and local communities.
- The WENDY harmonious turbines-communities co-existence roadmaps, will identify local needs and objectives for socially inclusive, transparent and green wind farms development.
- WENDY-initiated behavioural interventions will aim to bring sustainable positive change in citizens’ attitudes towards accepting and participating in wind farms.
- The WENDY validated guidelines will enhance energy citizenship with applicable recommendations on the means to reduce local opposition of and encourage active participation in wind energy projects, while the WENDY social acceptance interventions framework will serve as a guide of behavioural and psychological interventions. Policy recommendations will be used as a means to further facilitate the WENDY solutions’ replication.
- Societal and Environmental Readiness Levels, Sustainability Readiness Levels Framework, supporting sustainable R&D for wind turbines development, construction and operation.
- ES-LCA mapping modelling tool will enable the quantification of consequences of wind energy developments on both social and natural environments.
- The innovative system for birds and bats detection will be further exploited by EGP in their wind farms pipeline and in future planned wind energy projects for the detection and mitigation measures for birds and bats collisions.
- CIRCE will exploit this result by replicating the solution, taking advantage of their contacts in the wind energy sector and assessing future collaborations.

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