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A master's thesis from Aalborg University
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Untangling the conditions for danish wind power implementation - The dynamics of wind turbines’ artefacts and social resistance

Author

Term

4. term

Publication year

2017

Submitted on

Pages

98

Abstract

Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan dansk vindkraft har ændret sig fra en tidligere opstilling til en ny, og viser, hvad der kan gøres fremover for at sikre fortsat udvikling. I 1970’erne var lokale fællesskaber drivkraften bag vindkraften og skabte bred offentlig accept af teknologien. I dag møder vindkraft dog stigende modstand, som til tider bremser udviklingen. Specialet anvender socio-teknologisk agencement-teori (en tilgang der ser på, hvordan mennesker, organisationer, regler og fysiske ting som møller og elnet tilsammen danner et system) til at beskrive, hvordan denne sammensætning har ændret sig over tid. For at forstå den nye, mere komplekse fase kombineres kvantitative data (der følger ændringer i selve teknologien) med kvalitative data (der belyser årsager og konsekvenser for de forskellige aktører). Resultaterne viser, at vindmøller er blevet langt større og mere kapacitetsstærke, og at denne nye materialitet har konsekvenser for alle aktører i den danske vindkraftkonfiguration. Der er tegn på manglende indbyrdes tilpasning mellem aktørerne. Specialet peger på behov for stærkere styring og koordinering, mere målrettet kommunikation, kontekstnær viden om projektgennemførelse samt aktiv brug af nye beregnings- og beslutningsværktøjer.

This thesis examines how Danish wind power has shifted from an earlier setup to a new one and points to steps that could help it thrive in the future. In the 1970s, local communities drove the growth of wind power and built broad public acceptance. Today, however, wind power faces growing public resistance that at times slows development. The thesis uses socio-technological agencement theory (an approach that looks at how people, organizations, rules, and material elements such as turbines and the electricity grid come together as a system) to trace how this arrangement has changed over time. To understand the current, more complex stage, it combines quantitative data (to track changes in the technology) with qualitative data (to explore the causes and consequences of these shifts for different actors). The findings show that turbines have become much larger and more powerful, and that this new materiality has affected all actors in Danish wind power. The study points to a lack of mutual adjustment among actors and identifies needs for stronger governance and coordination, clearer communication, context-specific knowledge about project implementation, and active use of new calculative tools and models.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]