How public acceptance affects power system development—A cross-country analysis for wind power

Community acceptance of renewable energy investments can limit the potential renewable power installation at regional and national level. We use stated preference surveys from Ireland and Germany to parameterise a European power system investment and operation model to determine the impact of public acceptance constraints on system outcomes. The consideration of public acceptance leads to small changes in total costs but large changes in regional results of investment decisions. Transmission investments increase the impact of acceptance constraints on final outcomes, relative to a scenario with no acceptance constraints. The impacts on technology choice, power flows and curtailment are system-specific.