How can we support the increase of renewable energy and at the same time satisfy other land use like agriculture and social acceptance ? this study tries to find answer so we can continue to deploy renewable energy production infrastructure in Europe without reaching blocking situations that already occured in the deployment of such projects.

The challenge

The European Green Deal in general and more specifically RED III Directive defined renewable energy targets that Member States need to reach. In terms of numbers, it implies that Member States will need to nearly double their renewable energy capacity by 2030. The increase needs to be deployed on territories where land availability and public acceptance are not also easy to obtain. Renewable energy projects will face challenges through co-existence with competing land uses, including agriculture, nature conservation and urban development.

Many regions have to deal with lengthy and complex permit processes, spatial constraints and social resistance to large-scale wind and solar farms. Only a little more than 5% of EU territory is classified as suitable for solar and wind energy. MAK-RES tries to find solutions thanks to 7 case studies across Europe, focusing on policy instruments, spatial planning tools and stakeholder engagement strategies that support a balanced, sustainable energy transition.

Approach & results

Idea Consult studied in detailed the Ostende Airport case which hold by Ostende airport, Energy vision (private developer) and the municipality of Ostende. The approach was interesting in terms of land use (near the airport without any more land use conflicts) and project incentives for the population (crowdfunding and financial participation through crowdfunding).

The analysis we made on the urban permit system allowed us to define the different interventions of different public levels (municipal, provincial, regional and federal) according to different thresholds.

By comparing with other case studies led in seven different member states, we have been able to position Belgium in a global European framework with its strength and weaknesses. We saw that a lot of data and procedures framing were already in place but that other countries had better frames the social acceptance criteria for example.

Even though only 2,2% of the space would be necessary to deploy the renewable energy projects to achieve the objectives, it stays difficult in countries where national objectives have not been translated at local level or that have been weakly integrated locally. The developers are often a driving force but they are not always perceived as defending the common good, creating sometime local oppositions if the project is not well presented. Therefore early engagement of local communities and transparency on the development process is key to support those projects.

Those results have been presented by the Danish presidency in the Espon Seminar in Aalborg to share with the member states. These findings could be further developed and better integrated to future urban procedures and project development for renewable energy by local authorities everywhere in Europe.