Underground cables versus overhead lines: Do cables increase social acceptance of grid development? Results of a Contingent Valuation survey in Germany

Transmission network development plans have led to protests throughout Germany. Many studies present underground cables as a means to increase public agreement to transmission line construction. This paper investigates this thesis reporting results of a Contingent Valuation study conducted in late 2012 in four regions of Germany, which are affected by transmission line development in different ways. In an analysis of 1.003 household responses a majority of households favours underground cables (about 60%). Willingness-to-pay, however, relativizes this result. Almost 50% of households voting for underground cables are not willing to accept an increase in electricity prices to finance cable projects (free riders). The fact that positive willingness-to-pay does not correlate positively with increasing lengths of underground cables in 60% of cases underlines that cables are not supported unconditionally. All-in-all, the thesis that cables increase acceptance of grid development has to be rejected based on the WTP-evaluation presented in this paper.