ABSTRACT
Wind energy developments have experienced mixed levels of social acceptance. A wide range of literature investigates people’s perceptions of wind farms that in turn determine the social acceptance of these technologies. However, many studies seem to reduce the nature of these conflicts to matters of social perceptions and NIMBY-ism. Recent research has advanced this perspective with the concept of energy justice. We frame this chapter as a contribution to the energy impact and justice studies by identifying discourses on energy impacts in the case of Fosen wind park and assessing their complex temporalities and scales.
We apply a mix of qualitative methods including document, media analysis and semi-structured interviews with various interest groups. We identify four major discourses represented by different interest groups. The results show that the wind energy project contributes to the disempowerment of indigenous reindeer herders while at the same time empowering other local groups and the local municipality through industrial development. The future implications of the four discourses are complex and dependent on many uncertain conditions that are far beyond the energy project itself.
