Information campaign on Wind Power - OPET Sweden

Summary
The aim of the OPET 1999 national action on wind energy was to reduce the barriers resulting in slow planning procedures. In collaboration with the Wind Energy Association and market stakeholders, information and information tools were developed.

The web site www.vindkraft.nu was developed as the national info link, including contact information to both interested organisations as well as regional authorities. The website is still active.

End-user area	Legal initiatives (municipal regulations, directives, etc) Planning issues
Target audience	Decision makers Local and regional authorities Other: Government
Technical scope	Wind

Context
Barriers relating to the implementation of wind power plants have been identified as mainly non-technical. One of the largest difficulties for the implementation of wind power is the problem of regulations and permissions needed to set up individual windmills as well as wind parks. In order to minimise this problem and to start a mutual discussion forum, the idea of a national website evolved.

Objectives
The aim of the national action on wind energy was to reduce barriers relating to slow planning procedures. Another thought was to help both planners and authorities in the different regions to be able to take part in the development and discussions in the rest of the country.

Process
The idea was to have a single website that collects information and actors in one place. Improved communication between the different actors was another aim of the project and therefore also of the website. Earlier problem identification stated that most questions were the same in different regions, and the aim was therefore also to visualise the questions that tended to be the same in different regions.

The first phase was set for one year, including the set up and first 6 months of running the website. During this time, information was collected for the website. A lot of material could be found at the Swedish Energy Agency. The website targeted both planners within companies, as well as local and regional authorities that deal with permissions for wind power and the external firms that design the necessary products.

The website is still active and is now being maintained by "vindforsk" (a wind power research organisation financed by the Swedish Government).

Actions
- Market Analysis
- Webpage
- Other

Financial resources and partners
The project was carried out by OPET Sweden and had support from different actors, especially concerning the Q&A section of the website. Other actors were mainly researchers and specialists who contributed by guaranteeing the accuracy of the facts published.

Results
The average monthly number of sessions on the web site www.vindkraft.nu during the first 6 months was 1225. During the next 6 months the number of visitors increased by 15% to 1424 visits. From February 2000-February 2001 the site had a total of 15500 visitors. Though the site is published in Swedish there were 191 visitors from North America, 400 from the Netherlands and 204 from Australia. The website contains approximately 60 pages (counted as A4 format-pages). The website has resulted in 30 requests for more information leading to the creation of at least 10 new contacts between planners. The website is still running and is currently financed by national sources.

In May 2001 the Swedish Energy Agency published an action plan and suggested a national target for electricity production from wind power: 10 TWh in 10-15 years. Seven areas at sea were pointed out as suitable for offshore wind power.

The action plan attracted much attention in the media. Within the action plan, it is stated that today's regulation and planning system is a barrier for the development of wind power. The planning permission process needs to be made more efficient and simple. Such recent development emphasise the continued need for the site www.vindkraft.nu in order to increase networking between planners and to disseminate knowledge about planning issues.

Lessons learned and replication potential
Websites are excellent platforms if the issues concern large geographic areas (several regions or national) especially in cases like this, when the questions and problems seem to be of the same character across all regions. However, although the website has created a useful platform for discussions between planners and authorities, there are still other non-technical barriers to overcome. One of the main issues that remains concerns the common perception that windmills are both noise polluting and devastating to the landscape. The kind of approach described here could very well be replicated in other countries and also in other fields than the wind power.

To reach further with activities like this, it would be useful to have it combined with activities aimed at increasing awareness and other promotional campaigns.