Grinding the grid:contextualizing protest networks against energy transmission projects in Southern Germany

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Erscheinungsjahr:
2020
Medientyp:
Text
Schlagworte:
  • Wind Farms
  • Energy Transition
  • Social Rejection
  • Electricity
  • Energy
  • Economics
  • Wind Farms
  • Energy Transition
  • Social Rejection
  • Electricity
  • Energy
  • Economics
Beschreibung:
  • In Germany, citizens’ initiatives have opposed the construction of new high voltage power lines for more than fifteen years. This paper presents a qualitative case study of the Franconian region, where the opposition is especially strong and radical. In contrast to classic single point protests, these activists are well-networked and articulate energy and climate political issues – like decentralized energy transition - that transcend local contexts. Based on scientific expertise, they challenge the official grid extension plans that the federal government and transmission system operators advocate. The consideration of core concepts from movement studies reveals that the Franconian protest context shares important similarities with a social movement. This result is at odds with several acceptance studies on this issue that tend to overlook the conflict's broader context and reduce the reasons behind the protests to a defense of local interests. Thus, the paper offers a new interpretation of these protests: Instead of understanding them only as an obstacle to energy transition, it proposes an acknowledgement of the protests’ constructive dimensions.
  • In Germany, citizens’ initiatives have opposed the construction of new high voltage power lines for more than fifteen years. This paper presents a qualitative case study of the Franconian region, where the opposition is especially strong and radical. In contrast to classic single point protests, these activists are well-networked and articulate energy and climate political issues – like decentralized energy transition - that transcend local contexts. Based on scientific expertise, they challenge the official grid extension plans that the federal government and transmission system operators advocate. The consideration of core concepts from movement studies reveals that the Franconian protest context shares important similarities with a social movement. This result is at odds with several acceptance studies on this issue that tend to overlook the conflict's broader context and reduce the reasons behind the protests to a defense of local interests. Thus, the paper offers a new interpretation of these protests: Instead of understanding them only as an obstacle to energy transition, it proposes an acknowledgement of the protests’ constructive dimensions.
Lizenz:
  • info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
Quellsystem:
Forschungsinformationssystem der UHH
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Quelldatensatz
oai:www.edit.fis.uni-hamburg.de:publications/953df38d-8acb-4984-adf1-83010244d40c