Will infrastructure be abandoned? International challenges in planning for the future of onshore wind and solar.

8e77d57e-6b92-4d01-97c5-60e5d0410d49

Closed

ESRC
ESRC
ESRC
ESRC
ESRC

£491,845

Sept. 30, 2020

Sept. 30, 2021

In the context of a global transition to decarbonise the energy system, expanding energy output from renewables is increasingly important. However, space for renewable infrastructure is limited and existing facilities are becoming life-expired. Given tightening planning and land restrictions, keeping consented infrastructure in place is likely to form a key part of ensuring that energy targets are met. Most existing research in this area has focused on initial siting decisions for renewable infrastructure with a lack of consideration of what may happen in the longer-term future. Addressing this, my PhD provided the first systematic assessment of how end-of-life decisions are made, exploring how different actors consider the duration of sites, how their perceptions may change over time and how this is reflected in decision making.

The thesis produced a wealth of data including an analysis of all relevant UK planning and energy policies, data on the age and status of all UK wind farms incorporating details of repowering and life-extension, case study research into four wind farms and one solar farm including in-depth interviews with all relevant actors and surveys of residents living close to two wind farms. The findings revealed a range of potential challenges, most significantly the dominance of developer's economic calculations in shaping decisions, the marginalisation of publics and landscape concerns, but also the evident potential for infrastructure to be abandoned i.e. not removed at the end of its life. It also provided suggestions regarding how to mitigate such challenges. Theoretically the thesis provides innovative insights regarding the impacts of how the planning system considers and regulates time and reveals the benefits of applying a Deleuzian approach to exploring planning regulation. Through doing so it provides an opportunity to recast the way we think about key temporal processes such as the energy transition.

Building on the thesis findings this fellowship will be used to drive forward the following:
-Communicate the opportunities and challenges facing decision making for onshore wind and solar when sites reach the end-of-life stage and provide recommendations regarding end-of-life planning policy and the duration of planning permission.
-Highlight the risks and missed opportunities arising from elements that get left outside of the initial decision making process when planning permission is granted. These elements, such as inadequate decommissioning requirements, can return to cause challenges as the infrastructure approaches end-of-life.
-Disseminate findings regarding how community perceptions change over the life of the infrastructure and how they are often not reflected in end-of-life decision making, as well as recommendations regarding how they could be better included.
-Re-think how temporal concerns are considered within planning and the transition to low carbon energy systems, by recognising how infrastructural systems are always in a state of flux.

The aims of the fellowship can be categorised into four main areas:
1. Develop and disseminate the academic impact of the PhD research through publishing articles in three different international academic journals, contributing to the fields of energy geography, social science and planning and through presenting at an international planning conference.
2. Increase the policy, industry and societal impacts of the PhD findings through presenting at an international industry conference and publishing in a range of outputs including blogs, industry publications and policy briefs.
3. Initiate the next phase of theoretical development and empirical investigation through an overseas institutional visit and small-scale research project in America involving mapping the pathways to infrastructure abandonment.
4. Develop my skills and career as an academic through utilising the mentorship process and staff training courses.