Discourses of Energy Infrastructure Development
A Q-Method Study of Electricity Transmission Line Siting in the UK
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7761185 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew Cotton (0000-0002-8877-4822, Department of Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter, Devon EX4 4RJ, England, corresponding author), Patrick Devine‐wright (0000-0001-5768-4835, Department of Geography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter, Devon EX4 4RJ, England, corresponding author), Patrick Devine-Wright |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 942-960 |
| Publication date | 2011-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1068/a43401 |
| OpenAlex | W2072986166 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 26 |
| References cited | 33 |
The construction of new electricity-transmission infrastructure is construed in UK energy policy documents as necessary for achieving government targets to increase low-carbon electricity provision to combat climate change and ensure long-term energy security. Siting high-voltage overhead lines and substations is publicly controversial, however, due to their potential environmental, social, and economic impacts. Also controversial are issues of governance, procedural justice, and technological choice in decision making, particularly in light of recent legislative changes to the planning of nationally significant infrastructure projects in the UK. This study uses the Q-method to assess the discourses emerging from stakeholder and local community actor responses to line siting in the context of proposed transmission network upgrades in the southwest of England to support a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The analysis reveals three discourses, representing divergent positions on the adequacy of existing procedures to enable community participation, trust in network operators, the kinds of system configurations (centralised versus decentralised) required to meet the challenges of climate change and energy security, and the local impacts of overhead lines. Whilst the profile of how diverse respondents loaded upon each discourse showed expected patterns, the range of positions adopted by local residents support previous studies showing the limits of the ‘NIMBY’ conceptualisation of local protest. Whilst greater information provision and more upstream citizen participation in contexts of transmission line planning is recommended to enhance public trust, the limitations of such an approach in the absence of greater clarity at the national level regarding the configuration of future energy systems is discussed
Business · CLARITY · Corporate governance · Economics · Electricity · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Geography · Hydroelectricity · Legislature · Political science · Public participation · Public relations · Stakeholder · Telecommunications · Disaster Management and Resilience · Engineering · Public Administration · Risk Perception and Management · Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy · Finance
Just transitions for industrial decarbonisation
Mapping Discourses of Climate Change Adaptation in the United Kingdom
Public attitudes toward hydropower in China
Visual significance as a factor influencing perceived risks
Nationally significant? Major infrastructure projects, central-local relations and municipal statecraft and scalecraft in England
Identifying energy discourses in Canada with Q methodology
Public beliefs about high-voltage powerlines in Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom
Towards a sustainable grid development regime? A comparison of British, Norwegian, and Swedish grid development
Structuring values and normative frameworks using Schwartz's value theory to map the three tenets of energy justice
From vulnerability to resilience
Fighting the past to win the future
Political efficacy and familiarity as predictors of attitudes towards electric transmission lines in the United States
Assessing elements of energy justice in Colombia
How to Achieve a More Resource‐Efficient and Climate‐Neutral Energy System by 2030? Views of Nordic Stakeholders
Not all baselines are created equal
The Role of Community Involvement Mechanisms in Reducing Resistance to Energy Infrastructure Development
Stakeholder perceptions of marine plastic waste management in the United Kingdom
Understanding Difference to Build Bridges among Stakeholders
Q-method and the performance of subjectivity
Beyond the public in controversies
Drawing the line
Explaining public preferences for high voltage pylon designs
Citizens’ self-mobilization, motivational factors, and the group of most engaged citizens
Local perceptions of opportunities for engagement and procedural justice in electricity transmission grid projects in Norway and the UK
Public participation in Nimby risk mitigation
Energy Colonialism and the Role of the Global in Local Responses to New Energy Infrastructures in the UK
Using the Language of Nimby
Misunderstood misunderstandings
Making electricity networks “visible”
Risk as globalizing ‘democratic’ discourse? Framing subjects and citizens
Many ways to say ‘no’, different ways to say ‘yes’
Markets, experts and depoliticizing decisions on major infrastructure
Seeking sustainability discourses with Q methodology
Public engagement to build trust
Challenging the ‘view from nowhere’
Rethinking Nimbyism
Public Participation as Public Debate
Public participation in environmental impact assessment—implementing the Aarhus Convention
High-voltage Overhead Power Lines and Property Values
Contending discourses in the electric and magnetic fields controversy
The ‘Social Gap’ in Wind Farm Siting Decisions
Environmental citizenship and public attitudes to hydrogen energy technologies
Wind Energy on the Isle of Lewis
Q Methodology and Qualitative Research
Citizen Participation and Environmental Risk
Upon Opening the Black Box and Finding It Empty
Putting the Q into quality of life; the identification of subjective constructions of health-related quality of life using Q methodology
| Unique citing works | 26 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2025 (13) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 26 |