The Solution that Might Have Been: Resolving Social Conflict in Deliberations about Future Electricity Grid Development

Abstract

Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Increasingly, local opposition to new electricity grid developments cause lengthy delays and places financial and practical strain on the projects. The structure of the electricity industry is in transition due to the emergence of smaller but more numerous generation facilities. Also, the wider society and local communities increasingly engage with energy and environmental issues. At the same time, the traditional decision making frameworks and processes are proving less effective in solving the present time conflicts between local communities and other stakeholders. This paper proposes an economic approach to resolve such conflicts. We discuss how compensation, benefit sharing, and property rights can have a role in reducing community opposition to grid developments. However, we argue that these methods need to be part of an overarching policy towards conflict resolution in grid development. We then propose that such impacts can be addressed within the framework of 'weak' versus 'strong' sustainability. Finally, we suggest that the concepts of 'collective negotiation' and 'menu of options' in regulatory economics can be adapted to operationalise the suggested sustainability-based approach to arrive at more efficient and socially desirable outcomes. The proposed framework can lead to the identification of socially acceptable outcomes that could otherwise have gone undetected.

Spurring low-carbon electrosynthesis through energy and innovation policy

“…Thus, electricity planners should already be considering potential demand from ES. The need for long-term planning is exacerbated as public acceptance issues can further delay electricity infrastructure projects ( Tobiasson and Jamasb, 2016 ). In other words, a major coordination problem between the sectors and the underlying (policy) incentives exists—a classic problem when changing a complex system of systems.…”

Risk-Based Framework (RBF) for a UK Pan-European Supergrid

“…However, there are a number of social and political barriers for the implementation of a Supergrid (Jacobson and Delucchi, 2011;Tobiasson and Jamasb, 2016). Not least, the decision-making process required for their implementation is often a protracted procedure.…”

“…For example, lengthy negotiations between France and Spain were initiated in 1980 but the interconnection only started operating 35 years later (Tobiasson and Jamasb, 2016). Part of the reason is related to uncertainties associated with: changes in energy policy within countries concerned; availability of spare electricity; security of supply issues; comparatively lengthy construction periods and unsubstantiated predicted life-times for the physical interconnections (Great Britain Parliament, 2011a;Pöyry, 2016).…”

“…A proven means of facilitating similar decisions in other industries is through utilising an appropriate risk assessment process that enables early-stage risk identification, better understanding, and mitigation for potential impacts before they occur (Flyvbjerg et al, 2003;Read and Rizkalla, 2015). Within this context a common language and shared understanding between all engaging countries can help resolve disputes and shape common priorities (Tobiasson and Jamasb, 2016). However, such a Risk-Based Framework (RBF) to facilitate decision-makers is yet to be developed to encourage the uptake of Supergrids.…”

“…To address this, the goals of this paper are to describe a robust RBF for selecting the most appropriate country(ies) with which to make grid interconnections and to describe its use via a case study. Even though the need for such an RBF has been identified, this paper presents for the first time the development, application and components of the RBF and is therefore a major contribution to the existing literature (Great Britain Parliament, 2011b;Great Britain Parliament, 2011a;Pöyry, 2016;Tobiasson and Jamasb, 2016).…”