Energy justice: Lessons from offshore wind farm siting conflicts in South Korea

Given the growing salience of energy transition conflicts, policymakers need better tools to explain, prevent, and resolve them. The concept of energy justice highlights the normative direction of the energy system, and therefore, we examined the offshore wind farm siting conflict in Yeonggwang-gun, South Korea, through the lens of energy justice. In this study, we interviewed representatives of local stakeholder groups relevant to offshore wind farms and conducted text-mining analysis to extract the primary opinions of stakeholders. Through text-analysis, four primary factors were identified and discussed in relation to energy justice: gillnet fishing, consultation with the fishing village cooperative, damage by private developers, and a government-led conditional agreement. This mixed-method approach showed that the voices of fishing communities correlate with the four tenets of energy justice—distributional, procedural, recognition, and restorative justice. We discuss how recognition and restorative justice explain energy transition conflict under inadequate policy arrangements in South Korea, where little has been investigated in energy justice literature. By filling the gaps in energy transition conflict, we suggest inclusive policy strategies, revisiting the meaning and utility of participatory planning, scoping methods for Environmental and Social Impact Assessments, and just transition.