Stakeholder Desks

In each WinWind country one stakeholder desk has been established to coordinate a structured and solution oriented stakeholder dialogue and to facilitate social acceptance and support depending on the specific contexts and regional needs. The desks employ an inclusive approach that takes into account differing needs and expectations of the stakeholder as well as the regional or local processes and cultures.

 

The development of wind energy – more specifically, the debates surrounding projects in the field - have shown that social acceptance is a topic that needs to be better understood through the involvement of the stakeholders, if the European policy targets for renewable energy production are to be accomplished. Because a national strategy to overcome the socio-economic barriers to wind energy acceptance requires a large public involvement, proponents and opponents need to work together in a common space for consultation and debate.

Main tasks of the stakeholder desks:

  • Gather information and provide input for activities and analyses for the respective target regions/countries;
  • Provide input on potential best practices and innovative measures and concepts which help to improve social acceptance;
  • Check the transferability of best practices;
  • Develop proposals how to address social acceptance barriers in target regions;
  • Initiate a continuous, solution-oriented stakeholder dialogue with other market actors and stakeholders via a) thematic workshops and b) stakeholder consultations, with the purpose of addressing critical socio-political/market/community acceptance issues;
  • Share knowledge and disseminate the outcomes and results.

Every desk comprises at least 15 representatives from different stakeholder groups and market actors in each target region/country (e.g. developers, investors, community energy organisations and co-operatives, wind energy and business associations, regional/local governments, agencies, municipal and regional authorities, policy-makers, advisers, NGOs, citizen groups, ethnic minorities, research institutes).