2018 Conference

Individual Paper Presentation

Onshore wind energy has grown in the United States due to a culmination of research and development, technological breakthroughs, and federal and state policy. Economic incentives have driven the majority of project proposals in rural areas with good wind resources located far from view of communities causing little necessary input from the public. These wind resources have now been capitalized on forcing developers to site closer to stakeholders. Yet not every member of the public agrees with implementing wind turbine farms within view of their homes for the greater good of all; this thinking is better known as the media’s oft-cited Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) syndrome. As wind farm proposals have become sited closer to communities, the public has begun to voice their opposition and developers have had to back down thereby stifling the progress of clean energy. Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) have increasingly been used across the globe to involve local stakeholders in the project approval process by financing initiatives in the community in return for support. As the U.S. economy looks to wind as a growing cost-effective electricity generator, the issue of public opposition to wind development needs to be effectively alleviated and CBAs may be an affable solution. This paper provides a theoretical contribution to alleviating the issue of wind power project opposition through public participation and monetary payments to communities.