Wind Power Development and Landscape - Social Participation, Opportunities and Challenges

This chapter describes and exemplifies how different methods for landscape analysis have been applied for wind farm development and planning in Sweden and Spain. In our case studies from Sweden and Spain we discuss the possibilities, strengths and shortcomings of use of different methods of landscape assessment for wind power development in relation with the definition of landscape by the European Landscape Convention (ELC). The Swedish case study is an example of how the proposed guidelines for wind development in the master plan of Uddevalla has been contested and how dialogue-based landscape analysis has redirected wind energy planning. This has been possible through disentangling and illuminating social values in the description of landscape characters as a basis for new planning guidelines. The Spanish case of the Valle de Lecrín and Alpujarra demonstrates limitation of a study based only on expert analysis of visual impact of wind farms. By complementing these expert methods with dialogue, local stakeholder's perspective was revealed and the role of wind turbines in the construction of a local landscape was understood. We show that the role of the landscape planner should be understood as an interpreter and mediator, rather than that of an expert and prescriber.