The implementation of many small power stations compensates the closing of powerful large power plants as part of the German Energy Transition is compensated. It is unclear how site decisions are made, which actors are involved, and which economic, ecological, and social consequences occur. The quantitative study consists of a written postal survey of renewable energy plant operators, concerning central aspects of project development. The study found strong regional disparities concerning the entrepreneurial behavior of plant operators of renewable energies, a low importance of socio-institutional and socio-cultural parameters, a great relevance of micro-social environment during site planning of renewable energy plants, and that plant operators are highly influenced by economic and individual desires. It may be concluded that the perspectives operators have on the Energy Transitions must be more systematically included into the discourse regarding the sustainable deployment of renewable energies, as they reveal significant disparities with topics that are emphasized by the public (e.g., landscape aesthetic, citizens’ participation). It was shown that the challenges and problems that arise in the context of regional energy transformation cannot be generalized beyond regional circumstances; rather, they must be regarded as specific regional phenomena that have to be overcome by means of regionally adapted energy concepts.
In this paper we present a realization of the informationbottleneck-paradigm by means of an improved counter propagation network. It combines an unsupervised vector quantizer for data compression with a subsequent supervised learning vector quantization model. The approach is mathematically justified and yields an interpretable model for classification under the constraint of data compression, which is not longer independently learned from the classification task.* M.K., M.M.B. and D.S. were supported by grants of the European Social Fund (ESF) for a Young Researcher Group 'MaLeKITA' and a PhD grant.
Abstract. The number of actors in the German Energy Transition as well as the planning complexity increases and new spatial implications emerge in contrast to the conventional energy system. In planning processes for Renewable Energy Technologies mostly economic approaches are chosen, but simultaneously the number of social conflicts related to wind power plants or solar energy plants is on an all-time high. The aim of the study is therefore to identify the essential parameters of a sustainable expansion of renewable energies from the diversity of potential influencing factors and to illustrate them using a regional case study and GIS. The analyses reveal the great regional assertiveness of photovoltaics, whereby wind energy can assert itself due to social parameters also at some locations. Beyond this, it is to be stated that renewable energies find themselves in intense economic and social competition for space, although the most compatible spatial solutions have not always been able to prevail so far. Nevertheless, the presented approach offers a sophisticated method to minimize the social conflicts that arise in the context of the energy system transformation.
With the Clean Energy for all Europeans legislative package, the European Union (EU) aimed to put consumers “at the heart” of EU energy policy. The recast of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) acknowledged the importance of energy communities for the energy transition and introduced new provisions for renewable energy communities (RECs), empowering them to participate in the energy market. This article analyses the progress of transposing and implementing key provisions of the RED II that apply to RECs in nine European countries and focuses on timeliness and completeness of transposition. It comprises both a qualitative and quantitative assessment covering (1) the definition, rights, and market activities of RECs; (2) key elements of enabling frameworks; and (3) consideration of REC specificities in support schemes for renewable energy. The analysis shows considerable variation in transposition performance between the analysed countries. The authors investigate the reasons for this variation and relate them to findings of European implementation and compliance research. Key factors identified include actor-related and capacity-related factors, institutional fit, and characteristics of the RED II itself. Future research in this field needs multi-faceted avenues and should pay particular attention to the influence of national governments and incumbents, not only in the transposition process, but already in upstream policy formulation at the European level.
Nuclear waste management is a contested challenge that lasts for decades. Especially in Germany, the history of the usage of nuclear energy is conflictive and notions of justice are therefore omnipresent in the ongoing site selection process for a nuclear waste repository. Against the background of injustices caused by the deployment of nuclear energy, such as the obligation for current generations to deal with nuclear waste, questions of how to justly deal with nuclear waste and to find a just repository site arise. By conducting a survey among people that participate in the site selection process as well as people living in or representing an area that is still considered suitable, the assessment of different aspects of justice was evaluated. The role of a science-informed site decision without any political bias is considered highly important for a just site selection. Distributional aspects, such as notions of utilitarianism, retribution, or the exemption of environmentally burdened regions are generally not approved but more detailed questions have shown that such notions cannot be dismissed at this early stage of the site selection process. The difference for general agreement can also be observed for intergenerational recognition, as the recognition of future generations is regarded as necessary, but concrete implications (retrievability or enclosure) are assessed ambiguously. Although some factors of justice are assessed more importantly than others, the analysis has shown that the interrelations between the different dimensions of justice are manifold and the argument that one dimension can be substituted for another one is too reductive.
ZusammenfassungDie Energiewende stellt eine grundlegende Transformation in der Erzeugungs- und Verteilstruktur des deutschen Energiesystems dar. Durch verschiedene Fördermechanismen wie das EEG konnten neue, semiprofessionelle Anlagenbetreiber in den Energiemarkt eintreten. Standortentscheidungen wurden entprofessionalisiert und die Bedeutung von behavioristischen Standortfaktoren, wie z. B. das soziale Umfeld, die Sicherung der eigenen Lebensgrundlage oder die persönliche Konstitution gewannen an Bedeutung. Dieser Wandel stellt das Voranschreiten der Energiewende vor neue Herausforderungen. Da bisher wenig Kenntnis über das Handeln und die Faktoren, die zu einer Standortentscheidung bei neuen Anlagenbetreibern führen, besteht, ist es das Ziel dieser Studie, Anlagenbetreiber von erneuerbaren Energien nach deren Standortverhalten zu klassifizieren. Dazu wurden mithilfe eines standardisierten Fragebogens Anlagenbetreiber in den Planungsregionen Augsburg (Bayern) und Lausitz-Spreewald (Brandenburg) befragt. In der nachfolgenden Clusteranalyse wurden 4 raumrelevante Betreibergruppen klassifiziert: Überregionale, Regionale, Kommunale und Kleinbäuerliche Betreiber. Diese Gruppen unterscheiden sich hinsichtlich ihres raumrelevanten Standort- und Betriebsverhaltens und weisen daher unterschiedliche Eignungen für Räume mit unterschiedlichen Eigenschaften auf. Um diese Eignung räumlich sichtbar zu machen, wurde abschließend eine GIS-Analyse durchgeführt, um am Beispiel der Planungsregion Augsburg aufzuzeigen, welche Betreibergruppe an welchem Standort am geeignetsten ist. In Augsburg können somit die Kommunalen Betreiber aufgrund ihrer hohen Ortskenntnis und starken lokalen Eingebundenheit an vielen Standorten raumverträglich Energieanlagen errichten. Der vorliegende Ansatz bietet somit das Potenzial, den Ausbau der Energiewende raum- und sozialverträglich zu gestalten.
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