Noisy monsters or beacons of transition: The framing and social (un)acceptance of Dutch community renewable energy initiatives

Evaluating and improving social awareness of energy communities through semantic network analysis of online news

“…Indeed, the results show the focus of discussions around energy community on economic aspects, which are a key element to consider for their societal uptake. The economic implications of energy communities are often associated to the viability of renewable energy and related investments; this link is stressed in literature for a few other European countries [16] but not for all [79]. Therefore, the improvement of social acceptance of energy communities in Italy would benefit from communication campaigns clarifying economic aspects, such as the return on investment and long-term economic benefits, as well as realistic risks and complexities.…”

“…Another way to improve the development of new energy communities could be to communicate their environmental and social benefits more strongly, thus improving people's interest and engagement. Lagendijk et al [16] stressed a lack of connection in the media discourse of material and social aspects of the renewable energy transition and recommended energy communities be depicted as "beacons of transformation". Our results also stress the importance of communicating the link between technical, economical, and social benefits of energy communities.…”

“…While the study of online news might not be enough for a complete assessment of societal awareness and acceptance of energy communities [16], they still represent an important data source that can be analyzed to provide a general view [34]. Indeed, news articles can strongly impact public sentiment [35] and behavior [36], and media coverage is often a proxy for societal awareness of a topic.…”

“…There are other studies that have evaluated the media discourse about different energy-related topicssuch as renewable energy [37,39], biogas [38], the energy system [40], climate change [41] and the related awareness [47], renewable energy technologies diffusion [42], and solar energy [43]. To the best of our knowledge, only Lagendijk et al [16] have examined the media framing of (Dutch) energy community initiatives to evaluate their social acceptance. However, none of the above-mentioned studies has used semantic network analysis, also focusing on the interrelationships between energy communities and other topics of the energy discourse to understand their media importance.…”

“…In particular, this societal awareness gap is extended to professionals who design large-scale projects and represent key stakeholders. In this context, Lagendijk et al [16] showed that technological progress and economic viability aspects seem more powerful than environmental and social triggers. In early-adopter European countries, e.g., the Netherlands or Germany, the growth of RECs is somehow declining, as pointed out by Herbes et al [17].…”