%T Public Participation or Financial Compensation? - An Analysis of Dealing with Social Impacts in the Project 'Windpark Wieringermeer'
%A L.A.J. Breed
%D 2022
%L theses_frw3772
%X Increasing popularity for wind turbine development in the Wieringermeer polder (North-Holland, The Netherlands) resulted in beginning concerns at the local authorities for a chaotic, non-coordinated landscape of wind turbines. Therefore, entrepreneurs and local government decided to scale-up and restructure the existing wind turbines in the area, in order to develop the project ‘Windpark Wieringermeer’. Reacting on many objections and worries from the local residents about impacts on society and the environment, multiple measures were taken to create a participative process. For example, the first ever ‘Omgevingsraad’ for a wind farm in the Netherlands that created discussion and negotiation between the initiators and the local residents. As a result of this local residents could receive financial compensation in different forms and amounts, although it led to mixed feelings at the local residents and some of the initiators. This research looks at the role of all the relevant stakeholders, the possibilities in financial participation and the use of public participation, and combine those three factors to answer how social impacts of the development of the wind farm were considered.