Activity A3.1 “Interregional workshop on developing measures to promote civic participation and engagement” of the BIOWIND project foresees the organization of an interregional workshop to exchange experience and discuss the common challenges and gaps in policies that inhibit community engagement during the different phases of wind energy projects and to elaborate ideas on policy measures that could foster civic participation in wind energy projects. The workshop was organized by the Northern and Western Regional Assembly (NWRA) and took place from 19-20 September 2023 in Sligo, Ireland. From the UPAT side, one team member attended the event, Ms. Eirini Stergiou, postdoc researcher.
On Thursday 23/11/2023, the UPAT team organized an internal debriefing meeting where Ms. Eirini Stergiou informed the remaining UPAT team members (that could not attend the workshop) about the discussions that took place during the A3.1 workshop. She mentioned that during the workshop, the participants were able to identify some important aspects for increasing the community engagement during wind farm development, such as:
• Increased information dissemination and transparent communication so as to build trust among community stakeholders, local authorities, and project developers
• Early-stage engagement allows communities to voice concerns, initiate early dialogue, and address any potential misconceptions
• The role of the state and national governments should promote community involvement in wind power projects
In addition, Ms. Stergiou briefly presented the main points of the presentations that took place during the workshop and explained the main findings and recommendations of the roundtable discussions that followed the presentations. Such recommendations include: (a) the need of national governments establishing a common set of Community Engagement Guidelines for project developers to enable communities and developers to engage constructively throughout the lifecycle of an onshore / offshore wind project, (b) the importance of local community involvement in the early stage of negotiation of a project, particularly if the community is offered a stake in the project and (c) the importance of disseminating information through all available channels to combat misinformation.
