Landscape and Environment: Social Acceptance of Wind Energy in Apulia and Basilicata Regions

The present paper is centred on the issue of social (or public) acceptance of renewable energy. Due to the climate change at global level, governments are showing an increasing interest in the adoption of renewable energy policies. Nonetheless, social acceptance to renewable energy still represents an obstacle to these policies. This is particularly true for wind energy. Generally, a wind farm project could alter the aesthetic view of a territory and rise an active opposition to its development. Furthermore, the lack of knowledge and the lack of trust towards the technology and the institutions could undermine a wind energy project. The paper critically reviews the public acceptance of renewable energy with a particular emphasis on wind energy, and examines the main factors determining the success or the failure of a wind energy project and their importance to support the decision making process. The issue of social acceptance is studied through a survey carried out in the regions of Apulia and Basilicata, in the South of Italy. The rationale behind the choice of these regions is that they are represent, particularly in the case of Apulia, a large portion of the wind energy installation capacity in Italy. Additionally, an ANOVA analysis is performed to assess whether similarities exist across these regions. Finally, the social acceptance of wind energy is discussed in the light of the particular territorial context of the two regions.