SEAI Survey of Irish Attitudes to Wind and Solar Power 

 

SN:0084-01 SEAI Survey of Irish Attitudes to Wind and Solar Power, 2022

ABOUT THE STUDY 

The purpose of the survey is to understand attitudes and beliefs of people on the topic of commercial wind and solar power infrastructure and specific public policy measures under the government’s Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS). It is particularly aimed at establishing a baseline to compare the attitudes of those who live far (>10km) from new (as of 2022) commercial solar and wind farms with those who live near (<5km from) new infrastructure projects and who may (after 2022) benefit from RESS policies such as community benefit funds or household payments.

Topics covered include standard socio-demographic variables; familiarity with renewable energy technologies; general attitude to wind and solar power; attitude to wind and solar projects near household; interaction with wind or solar power infrastructure; attitude to the planning process and RESS policies (community benefit fund and household payments).

The survey data is joined to three variables that provide information on the characteristics of the renewable energy project spatially proximate to each respondent; i.e. the type of project (wind or solar), the scale of the project (MW ranges), and the distance to the nearest project (km ranges).

The survey dataset is cross-sectional, but will also serve as the baseline for a longitudinal study that SEAI is conducting. The aim of the longitudinal study is to understand the effect of RESS policy measures on people who live near the commercial wind or solar PV projects developed under the scheme. Anonymized versions of follow-up surveys will also be shared as updates to this dataset. The first follow-up survey is scheduled for 2025.

Funding information

Research funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).

MAIN TOPICS 

  • Energy generation
  • Energy infrastructure
  • Energy policy
  • Renewable energy
  • Energy transition

 

LINKS 

https://www.seai.ie/community-energy/enabling-framework/impacts-research/index.xml

ACCESS INFORMATION 

Accessing the data

To access the data, please complete a ISSDA Data Request Form for Research Purposes, sign it, and send it to ISSDA by email.

For teaching purposes, please complete the ISSDA Data Request Form for Teaching Purposes, and follow the procedures, as above. Teaching requests are approved on a once-off module/workshop basis. Subsequent occurrences of the module/workshop require a new teaching request form.

Data will be disseminated on receipt of a fully completed, signed form. Incomplete or unsigned forms will be returned to the data requester for completion.

Please note that any reference to signature and date in this document can be read as meaning the typed name and date where such an application is forwarded electronically.

Copyright 

The copyright belongs to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI)

Acknowledgements 

Any work based in whole or part on resources provided by the ISSDA, should  acknowledge: “SEAI survey of Irish attitudes to wind and solar power" and also ISSDA, in the following way: “Accessed via the Irish Social Science Data Archive - www.ucd.ie/issda”.

Citation requirement 

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Notification 

The user shall notify the Irish Social Science Data Archive of all publications where she or he has used the data.

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