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Support for Renewable Energy: The Case of Wind Power

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  • Robert Germeshausen
  • Sven Heim
  • Ulrich Wagner

Abstract

The rise of societal goals like climate change mitigation and energy security calls for rapid capacity growth in renewable electricity sources, yet citizens’ support is put to a test when such technologies emit negative local externalities. We estimate the impact of wind turbine deployment on granular measures of revealed preferences for renewable electricity in product and political markets. We address potentially endogenous siting of turbines with an IV design that exploits quasi-experimental variation in profitability induced by subsidies. We find that wind turbines significantly reduce citizens’ support locally, but this effect quickly fades with distance from the site. We assess policy instruments for enhancing citizens’ support for renewable energy in light of our results.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Germeshausen & Sven Heim & Ulrich Wagner, 2023. "Support for Renewable Energy: The Case of Wind Power," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2023_390v2, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany, revised May 2025.
    • Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2023_390v2
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Renewable Energy; Wind Power; Public Support; Elections; Externalities;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

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