Preparing the ground: Regulatory challenges in siting small-scale wind turbines in urban areas

Countries worldwide have set national targets for energy production from renewable sources. Yet, while many governments are committed to more renewable energy, obtaining permission to site installations is becoming increasingly difficult. With large tracts of land for renewables becoming intensely contested, countries seeking to meet their renewables targets are directing attention also towards tapping the potential in the urban environment through smaller-scale facilities. These entail other challenges, and countries are seeking ways to overcome them. The focus of this paper is on one, still evolving, type of renewable energy technology: small-scale wind turbines (SSWT). The paper presents a review of current but limited international academic knowledge on the land-regulation aspects of siting SSWT in countries that already have experience with such installations, including the USA, UK and New Zealand. The paper also reports on a comparative analysis of the land-related regulations and practices in two selected Mediterranean jurisdictions – Spain (Catalonia) and Israel. The approach of this study is exploratory, relying on analysis of legal and policy documents complemented by field work through in-depth interviews with key-stakeholders in both jurisdictions. The overall aim of this study is to examine different approaches of planning systems to new technologies. The findings show that despite their shared objective factors, the two jurisdictions have adopted almost opposite approach to regulating SSWTs. The findings, therefore, suggest that the incorporation of an unknown technology within the city requires a change of mindset both among the officials and among the city residents. A more effective regulatory framework might therefore entails a combination of strategic thinking, an experimental approach and the capacity to learn from cross-national comparative experiences.