Wind turbines and coastal recreation demand

Abstract

We examine the impact of coastal wind turbines on local coastal tourism and recreation for residents of the northeastern coastal counties in North Carolina. A combination of telephone and web survey data are used to assess the impact of coastal wind farms on trip behavior and site choice. Most of the respondents to our telephone survey claim to support offshore wind energy development, and independent survey data suggest that the observed levels of support may be indicative of the broader population in this region. Overall, we find very little impact of coastal wind turbines on aggregate recreational visitation; loss in annual consumer surplus associated with wide spread wind development in the coastal zone is insignificant at $17 (or about 1.5% of annual consumer surplus). Results suggest that NC local coastal tourists are averse to wind farms in the near-shore zone; average compensating variation for wind farms one mile from the shore is estimated at $55 per household. On average, we find no evidence of aversion to wind farms 4 miles out in the ocean, or for wind farms located in coastal estuaries. For all wind farm scenarios, we find evidence of preference heterogeneity-some respondents find this appealing while others find it aversive.

Perceptions of the Quality of Nature-Based Tourism in Sundarban in Local and Foreign Visitors: A Case Study from Karamjal, Mongla

“…Tourism expenditures have been found to be directly linked with family incomes (Abbruzzo, Brida, & Scuderi, 2014). Similar to our findings, previous studies have also identified household income to have a positive impact on recreational behaviour (Landry, Allen, Cherry, & Whitehead, 2012). Visitors (mostly foreigners) with high income may be willing to pay more if the recreational quality of a park improves.…”

How Spatial Relationships Influence Economic Preferences for Wind Power—A Review

“…Landry et al [30] was one of the few recreational demand studies to estimate SP and changes in future beach visitation (n = 118) given an offshore wind farm was built adjacent to North Carolina beaches (USA). A spatial attribute for distance was included in the CE, prompting respondents to choose their trip at a site-generic beach with a wind farm located either in the Atlantic Ocean or in inland, sound waters.…”

“…Following Landry et al [30], Westerberg et al [28] examined offshore wind development impacts using a coastal, recreational demand model in the Languedoc Roussillion region of the French Mediterranean. The authors estimated WTP and WTA for coastal recreation, defined in the payment vehicle as a change in the accommodation price, near a proposed 108 MW offshore wind project (consisting of 30 × 3.6 MW turbines, typically 80 m nacelle and 55.5 m blades =133.5 m total) using an explicit distance attribute at five, eight or twelve km from shore.…”

“…Subsequently, a range of SP studies have tested attribute-specific spatial preferences for offshore wind farms locations [18][19][20][21][28][29][30][31]. Together, the studies generally suggest that there are significant preferences for building offshore wind farms some distance away from the coast.…”

Coastal Erosion as a Natural Resource Management Problem: An Economic Perspective

“…Estimates from California produced with site choice models are of a similar magnitude, $27 to $29 per household (Lew and Larson 2009). Seasonal value estimates range from $68 per household (Rehobeth, DE;von Haefen, Phaneuf, and Parsons 2004) to $1,104 per household (all NC beaches; Landry et al 2010). Lew and Larson (2009) over a two-month period in San Diego, California at around $1,700 per household.…”