Community Attitudes and Wind Energy Development Types: A Comparative Study in Ontario and Nova Scotia
Abstract
Wind turbines will continue to be an important part of the green energy transition in Canada. However, opposition to onshore wind projects from potential host communities has increased over time, and install rates are flattening. Dimensions such as NIMBYism, place, distance from turbines and connections to landscapes have proved relatively inadequate for explaining community attitudes. The value of community-based development models over developer-led models has had recent traction, however limited empirical investigation has been done. I used a mail-out mail-back survey in Ontario (n=192) and Nova Scotia (n=170), to communities with (n=172) and without (n=190) a community-based development model. Using mainly bivariate correlations and binomial logistic regression, I investigate two classes of predictors of preference for community-based models: those relating to one’s local project, and those relating to hypothetical wind development scenarios. Participatory decision-making and fair benefits distribution significantly predict positivity toward one’s local wind project, while a locals-focused investment scale is highly preferred (95%) but not significantly associated (low response heterogeneity). Unexpectedly, community-based development is not more associated with positivity than developer-led, while living in Nova Scotia instead of Ontario is. Residents near community-based wind projects are not significantly more likely to prefer a community-based hypothetical scenario, while positivity toward one’s local wind project (regardless of development model) is correlated with higher support for all hypothetical wind projects. Finally, residents prefer community-level benefits to individual-level benefits. These findings suggest a substantial renegotiation of how future community-based wind developments are implemented – historical context and community involvement being at the forefront.