Competing Wind Energy Discourses, Contested Landscapes

Abstract

The impairment of landscapes is a concern constantly raised against wind energy developments in Germany as in other countries. Often, landscapes or landscape types are treated in the literature as essentialist or at least as uncontested categories. We analyse two examples of local controversies about wind energy, in which “landscape” is employed by supporters and opponents alike, from a poststructuralist and discourse theoretical angle. The aim is to identify and compare landscape constructs produced in the micro discourses of wind energy objectors and proponents at local level (a) within each case, (b) between the two cases and (c) with landscape constructs that were previously found in macro discourses. One major finding is that several different landscapes can exist at one and the same place. Furthermore there seems to be a relatively stable set of competing landscape concepts which is reproduced in specific controversies. The paper concludes by highlighting practical consequences and by identifying promising avenues of further research.

Partnership or placation? The role of trust and justice in the shared ownership of renewable energy projects

“…This perspective has already been productively applied to research on the social acceptance of renewable energy (e.g. Ellis, Barry, & Robinson, 2007;Haggett, 2008;Leibenath & Otto, 2014). Given that it is, in principle, impossible to identify what a discursive element 'really' means, it is important to reveal matters of power that institute a certain discourse, to examine how each discourse privileges certain types of knowledge and devalues others.…”

Conflicts around Germany’sEnergiewende: Discourse patterns of citizens’ initiatives

“…A meaning is rooted in discourse, and in everyday discourse many meanings are taken for granted and appear 'normal'. According to Leibenath and Otto (2014: 3), Laclau and Mouffe "take discourses to be structured totalities which relate linguistic elements such as words and utterances to objects and practices in a contingent manner". For Laclau and Mouffe (1985: 112): "Any discourse is constituted as an attempt […] to arrest the flow of differences", resulting in temporary consolidations of meanings.…”

“…At the same time, it reveals cracks and fissures in argumentative logic and highlights the temporal and spatial conditioning of the various positions and their rhetoric. Applications to energy transition have, however, been restricted in scope (Gailing, leibenath 2015;Leibenath, Otto 2014;Lennon, Scott 2015;Zimmer et al 2012) and have preceded the recent growth in resistance, which has intensified the conflict to the point of changing its character and scope.…”

“…The issue has engendered widespread research interest, especially with regard to the levels of citizen participation, protest and acceptance that have been experienced in Germany, and specifically with reference to issues of landscape change (among many others, Aas et al 2016;Bues, Gailing 2016;Krauss 2010;Leibenath, Otto 2014;Lennon, Scott 2015;Messinger-Zimmer, Zilles 2016;Pasqualetti 2001;Radtke 2014;Rygg 2012;Short 2002;Stremke 2010;Wolsink 2007), but articles devoted to the topic have tended to view power generation and transportation as independent issues rather than looking at their mutual impact. Nor has much attention been paid to the development of the social and political authority of some positions over others.…”

“…The expansion of renewable energies is in principle widely accepted in German society (agentur für Erneuerbare Energien 2015). However, in the German context renewable energy largely means wind-generated energy, and construction plans, especially for new wind farms, have often excited and still excite vocal criticism from those immediately affected 1 (Bernhardt 2013;Leibenath, Otto 2014;Pohl et al 2014;Zoellner et al 2008). Planning processes were -and still are -being delayed and projects partially withdrawn.…”