Wind Energy and Justice for Disadvantaged Communities
The UK Government has expressed the urgent need for rapid investment in large-scale, low-carbon energy infrastructure to address the twin challenges of climate change and energy security. But there is a social dimension to this urgency, too. If this imminent wave of energy investments is to be implemented in ways which benefit the communities around them, then the ?terms of exchange? on which energy development relates to its neighbours need setting now, not after the investment has taken place. The paper examines community benefits from renewable energy projects, particularly wind power, but places two different concerns at the forefront of debate. Firstly, it seeks to establish the principles of justice for requiring wind-farm developers to provide some form of benefits to communities. It is concerned mainly with distributive justice ? a concern for the fair distribution of costs and benefits in society ? although distributive justice is intertwined with issues of procedural justice. Viewing community benefits simply as devices for fostering social acceptance misses important issues of justice for communities living with large energy facilities. Secondly, it examines how these benefits might be used to best serve the long term resilience of the communities living with wind farms. Again, the emphasis on fostering social acceptance has eclipsed this question but it is vitally important; especially because much wind-farm development has taken place in rural or coastal areas suffering from economic, social and environmental disadvantage
