Way Off: The Effect of Minimum Distance Regulation on the Deployment of Wind Power

Jan Stede and Nils May

No 1867, Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin from DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research

Abstract: Several countries and regions have introduced mandatory minimum distances of wind turbines to nearby residential areas, in order to increase public acceptance of wind power. Germany’s largest federal state Bavaria introduced such separation distances of ten times the height of new wind turbines in 2014. Here, we provide a novel monthly district-level dataset of construction permits for wind turbines constructed in Germany between 2010 and 2018. We use this dataset to evaluate the causal effect of introducing the Bavarian minimum distance regulation on the issuance of construction permits for wind turbines. We find that permits decreased by up to 90 percent. This decrease is in the same order of magnitude as the reduction of land area available for wind turbines. The results are in line with findings indicating that minimum distances do not increase the public acceptance of wind power, but harm the expansion of onshore wind power.

Keywords: Onshore wind power; minimum distance; separation distance; energy transition; acceptance; panel data; difference-in-differences; causal inference; event study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 Q42 R14 R15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 p.
Date: 2020
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-eur and nep-reg
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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