Procedural and distributive justice inform subjectivity regarding wind power: A case from Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

Energy planners predict that in Brazil wind power will increase from 13.19 GW in 2018 to 28.47 GW in 2026. Conflicts focused on wind farms are appearing in Brazil, but thus far a justice perspective has not been applied to analyze conflicts. Increasingly, wind power acceptance is positively associated with several concerns regarding procedural and distributive justice, but empirical descriptions of how social actors interpret these concerns is in early stages. Identification of issues influencing acceptance is necessary to devise policies to facilitate wind power diffusion. This paper uses Q-method to determine empirically four factors or social perspectives in a coastal community in Rio Grande do Norte state: (1) Questioning Wind Power Benefits; (2) Wind Farm Boosters; (3) Compensated by Power and (4) Questioning Wind Farm Processes. Procedural and distributive justice concerns, especially the distribution of perceived benefits and negative impacts of wind farms and critiques of the decision-making processes, structure these social perspectives. Identification of social perspectives may improve decision-making process capacity for procedural and distributive justice.