Why coal towns reject wind farms—and how their past shapes the fight
A new study reveals that communities with histories of resource extraction—coal, mining, oil—interpret wind energy through the lens of past exploitation, not as climate solutions. Local leaders in these regions are caught between escaping dependence on dying industries and fearing wind power will repeat the same extraction-and-abandon cycle. Understanding these competing narratives is crucial for policymakers designing energy transitions that don't repeat history.
Originaltitel: Slowing down to speed up or get off: The role of resource legacies in narratives of wind energy in local transition governance
• Wind power governance becomes contested because of temporal misalignments. • Resource legacies are mobilised in the interpretation of wind power experiences. • Local administrations in resource communities construct a legacy of energy peripheralisation and strive to escape it. • Resource legacies can be both positive and negative and shape governance strategies. • Wind power is interpreted either negatively as alien, or as a new chapter in resource extraction.