WISE Power

Measures

• Carrying out an EU-wide analysis: Collecting innovative strategies for increasing acceptance in Europe (financial and other measures).
• Development of “Social Acceptance Pathways”: Toolbox with recommended courses of action for project planners, grid operators, decision-makers at the municipal, regional and state level, and representatives of civil society.
• Implementation of dialogue forums at the regional, national, and EU levels with all involved stakeholder groups (see diagram) with the goal of removing barriers in approval procedures and to promote the use of measures for increasing acceptance.
• Communication campaign (Information events, online campaigns, public relations) at the municipal, regional, state, and EU levels in order to increase the use of participation models.

The focus: Innovative project funding

• The transfer of expertise on innovative participation models in the field of project financing is one of the project’s main areas .
• Hence, the potential of various participation models is first evaluated, and then further developed with the involvement of all relevant stakeholder groups (see "target groups"). 
• Subsequently, recommended courses of action are derived for the improvement of the legal regulatory framework for innovative financing models in the target countries and regions.

Target groups

• Onshore wind industry, energy suppliers, financiers and system operators
• Political decision-makers (municipalities, regions, states, federal, EU)
• Authorities and/or representatives for public matters (at the municipal, regional, state, and federal levels)
• Citizens, local media, NGOs
• Banks and cooperatives

Consortium

The consortium is united under the leadership of the EWEA, and consists of 14 partners (EWEA, dena, Acciona Energia, Terna Energy, AEE, APERe, UNDP Croatia, Fraunhofer ISI, Ecopower, Scottish Government, Guldborgsund, Dubrovnik, Western Isles, Province of Savona), and implements the project in the 13 target countries (see map). In addition, experts from different companies and associations contribute their know-how regarding various advisory boards to the project.

Together with Fraunhofer ISI, dena is one of the partners implementing project activities in Germany. Furthermore, dena is also coordinating the EU-wide communications campaign in collaboration with the EWEA.
The WISE Power project is being co-financed as part of the European Union's Intelligent Energy Europe programme, and is being implemented from May 2014 to October 2016.

www.wisepower-project.eu (in English)

Strengthening the social acceptance of onshore wind.

Expansion of onshore wind energy in European markets is a key requirement for achieving the EU 2020 targets.

Onshore wind project planning and implementation is, among others, inhibited in wind growth markets in Southern and Eastern Europe due to the lack of acceptance from the local population, as well as from political decision-makers at the municipal, regional, and state level. Successful strategies for increasing social acceptance via strategic communication, participation models or compensation mechanisms are often not sufficiently known or used.

The objective of the WISE Power project is to determine successful strategies for increasing the social acceptance of onshore wind energy while incorporating all relevant interest groups (see diagram), to constantly develop it further, and to actively drive its increased application in Europe.