Events

Grid infrastructure and public acceptance

A seminar to discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in gaining public consent for infrastructure.

Event details

Documents and information

Please find a summary report and presentations from this event at the end of this page.

We will be tweeting about the event from @UofE_Research using #SusGrid.

Who should attend?

Industry professionals, researchers, policy-makers, and people with an interest in infrastructure and community relations are invited to attend this workshop.

Workshop aims:

  • New findings will be presented from the SusGrid research project. 
  • Discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in gaining public consent for new infrastructure projects, with a particular focus upon high voltage power lines.
  • Key actors from industry, policy, and academic sectors will come together to describe and review best practice. 

What is the event about?

Efficient and innovative infrastructure – whether high-speed railway lines, broadband networks or electricity power lines - is a vital contributor to economic growth and social cohesion in developed economies.

Electricity grids, and high voltage transmission lines in particular, ensure that we ‘keep the lights on’ to power homes and industry. Across Europe, as well as in specific countries such as the UK and Norway, significant investments are planned to upgrade existing networks and to construct new ones, for example over £100 billion in the UK alone (DECC, 2011).

These proposals presume that such infrastructures have public consent and will be socially acceptable to the communities living nearby. However, experience shows that such communities often object to infrastructure proposals, and controversies have provoked both local and national debate, as was witnessed with the Hardanger case in Norway.

These controversies lead to delays or abandoned projects, and communities are often blamed for ‘NIMBY’ (Not In My Back Yard) responses driven by ignorance, emotionality or parochialism. They reinforce the necessity to better understand the causes of such conflicts, based upon robust evidence rather than anecdote.

The SusGrid research project is funded by the Norwegian Research Council, involving academics drawn from several social science disciplines in both Norway and the UK.

Programme

Time Activity Speakers
10.00 Registration  
10.30 Welcome and introductions Patrick Devine-Wright (University of Exeter) and Audun Ruud (SINTEF Energy).
10.40

Short presentations on:

Challenges and opportunities in public engagement with transmission grid infrastructure - Norwegian and UK perspectives.

A mix of invited speakers including:

  • Paul Hawker, Future Electricity Networks Team, Department for Energy and Climate Change.
  • Roseanne Thomas, External Affairs and Regional Engagement Manager, National Grid.
  • Nick Clack, Senior Energy Campaigner, Campaign to Protect Rural England.
  • Lisa Hammer, Senior Adviser (Licensing Department), Norwegian Water and Energy Directorate.
  • Irene Meldal, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Statnett.
  • Oddvin Lund or Nicolas Rodriguez, Norwegian Trekking Association.
11.45 Break  
12.00 Research highlights (two presentations) from the SusGrid research project, followed by an open discussion.

1. International comparisons in public attitudes (Øystein Aas).

2. Economic incentives and benefits (Tooraj Jamasb).
12.45 Lunch  
13.30 Continuation of research highlights section (final two presentations).

3. Landscapes, power lines, and public acceptance (Patrick Devine-Wright and Susana Batel).

4. The challenges of public participation (Marte Qvenild).
14.15 Roundtable discussion with invited short contributions.

Panel chaired by Audun Ruud with contributions including:

1. Anne Tove Sløgedal Løvland, Agder Energi Nett

2. Jim Watson, UK Energy Research Centre

3. Antonella Battagliani, RGI
15.15 Concluding remarks Patrick Devine-Wright and Øystein Aas.
15.30 End  

Registration

To register please use the contact details below or email research-events@exeter.ac.uk.

Attachments
SusGrid_Summary_Report_Final.pdfA summary of findings from the SusGrid research team (3363K)
Slides___24_November.pptx (8257K)