4 March 2014
TU Delft TBM Research Team:
Rolf Künneke, Project Leader
Other participants:
Kas Hemmes
Rafaela Hillerbrand
Donna Mehos
Ilse Oosterlaken
Esther Eggink, U Utrecht
Jeroen van den Hoven TU Delft
Martin Peterson, TU Eindhoven
Martha Roggekamp, RU Groningen
Gijs van Kuik, TU Delft
Description:
In this pilot project,we have explored the research question: How can social values be embedded systematically in the technical and institutional design of offshore wind energy systems in order to facilitate their social acceptance and acceptability? The case of offshore wind energy systems is unique because the systems are largely greenfield projects. They will be using new technologies as part of newly built networks, and potentially as nodes in new forms of energy systems. Offshore wind is becoming a significant extension of the existing infrastructure and, with innovative institutional and technological change, has the potential to transform energy system configurations. The intermittency of wind power generation brings with it challenges of reliability not existent in fossil-fuel and nuclear power. Implementation of such large-scale modifications on land and in sea as well as in the institutional landscape requires a better understanding of social values and the role they play in social acceptability of these new systems or their components.
To shed light on values embedded in institutional and technological designs of offshore wind energy systems, we have developed a normative evaluative framework . Drawing on the so-called capability approach, and drawing on values as articulated in publications on offshore wind energy projects, we arrive at a multi-level framework that categorizes values. It helps us identify values and locate potential conflicts between values held by different social groups, for example, between market players, government bodies, or communities competing for use of the sea.. With our framework, we aim to classify and evaluate social values in such a way that the design of new technologies and institutions of offshore energy systems will embody widely-held social values and be socially acceptable.
To reach the parameters of our framework, we have studied the academic literature on social acceptance of energy technologies and on value sensitive design, interviewed practitioners in the offshore wind industry, and conducted an analysis of stakeholders from government and industry.

Publications Completed
Ilse Oosterlaken, accepted by Science & Engineering Ethics
Applying Value-Sensitive Design to Wind Energy: An Exploration with a Focus on Wind
Turbines and Wind Parks
Ilse Oosterlaken, WindNieuws (30), August 2013, pp. 5-6
Waardenbewust Ontwerpen in Windenergie
Frans van der Loo, WindNieuws (29), June 2013, pp. 20-21
150 GW Offshore: Hoe Doen We Dat?
Esther Eggink Internship at Siemans Wind Power, Master’s Thesis, Utrecht University, August 2013
Offshore Wind Power: Together Towards Social Support, An Analysis of Three Keystakeholder Groups in the Netherlands and their Views on Social Acceptance Issues
Publications In Preparation
Rolf Künneke, Kas Hemmes, Rafaela Hillerbrand, and Donna C. Mehos for Environmental Science and Policy , Special Issue on Crafting and Designing Institutions
Understanding Values Embedded in Offshore Wind Energy Systems:Towards a Purposeful
Institutional and Technological Design
Rafaela Hillerbrand and Rolf Künneke, to be submitted to Responsible Innovation
Design For Values and Sociotechnical Systems: The Role of Institutional Design for
Sustainable Energy Supply
Reports in Preparation
Kas Hemmes, Report, Inventory of Synergy Options on Sea
Martha Roggekamp, Report Functions, Values and the Balancing of Interests Offshore – the North Sea
Rolf Künneke, Kas Hemmes, and Donna C. Mehos, Summary of Main Findings for Stakeholders
Additional Dissemination Acitivities
Research results were presented and discussed at seven academic and industry meetings in four countries most recently at FLOW Windkracht 14, Rotterdam, January 2014 and NWO MVI Showcase
Meeting, Royal HaskoningDHV, Amersfoort, January 2014.
Interviews with stakeholders
Workshop Striving for Social Acceptability in Offshore Wind , Eneco, April 2014