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Publication - Research and analysis

Offshore wind farm developments - public perceptions: survey

Published
29 June 2022
Directorate
Marine Directorate
Part of
Energy, Environment and climate change, Marine and fisheries
ISBN
9781804355817

Findings from a survey exploring public perceptions of offshore wind farm (OWF) developments in Scotland. It describes whether and how respondents in Scotland have been impacted by OWFs, their attitudes to OWFs, and how OWFS affect their tourism and recreation choices.

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3 Perceptions of offshore wind farms

This chapter will discuss issues directly related to offshore wind and related developments. As a reminder, the definitions used to discuss respondents are in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1 Definitions of terms used to describe respondents
Term Definition
All respondents Respondents from both the national and the coastal surveys.
National respondents Respondents who took part in the nationally representative survey, defined as those who live in postcodes in Scotland with or without a coastal border.
Coastal Respondents Respondents who took part in the targeted coastal survey, defined as those who live in postcodes with a coastal border.
Lived experience Respondents who have the same outward postcode as an area which is used during the construction of an offshore wind farm. This includes areas where there is onshore infrastructure, where the offshore cables make landfall and areas which are parallel to the offshore development.

3.1 Awareness of offshore wind farm developments

Almost a quarter (24%) of national respondents said that they are aware of an offshore wind farm near to where they live; this compares with more than two in five (43%) coastal respondents who said that they were aware of an offshore wind farm near to them (Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1 Are you aware of any offshore wind farm located near to where you live?

is a stacked bar chart showing how participants responded to the question “Are you aware of any offshore wind farm located near to where you live”. The responses from coastal and national respondents are compared, with a bar for each showing the proportion of respondents who were aware of an offshore windfarm, or had not awareness of an offshore windfarm.

Base: Scottish Residents (National n= 1,000, Coastal n= 1,065)

Before analysing the results further, it is important to note that all respondents were asked about their 'awareness' of offshore wind farms located 'near to where you live'. This means the interpretation of 'near to where you live' by respondents is subjective; respondents may have different ideas about what constitutes 'near', and a respondent who may not consider themselves to be 'near' to the wind farm but are fully aware of a development could answer 'yes', whereas another respondent in the same situation could answer 'no'. This should be borne in mind when considering the data.

Respondents were then asked about the development with which they were most familiar, and around half of respondents who are aware of an offshore wind farm near to where they live named the Aberdeen Bay offshore wind farm (47%). A number of factors may explain this. Firstly, it could be due to that development's proximity to the coast, as Aberdeen Bay offshore wind farm is only 3 kilometres from the shore. Secondly, it may be due to the population density of the area, and this is explored in further detail within a specific case study in a later section below. Thirdly, the Aberdeen Bay offshore wind farm received significant media attention which may have resulted in greater levels of knowledge. There was also some awareness of Beatrice (12%), Kincardine (11%) and Moray (10%) as set out in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2 Looking at the list below, which offshore wind farm located near you are you aware of? If you are aware of more than one, please select the one you know most about.

is a stacked bar chart showing how participants responded to the question “Looking at the list below, which offshore wind farm located near you are you aware of? If you are aware of more than one, please select the one you know most about.” The national and coastal respondents are combined in this figure, and the proportion aware of each of the eight windfarms is presented in a bar chart.

Base: Those aware of offshore wind farms (combined National and Coastal respondents) (689)

Aberdeen Bay Offshore Wind Farm: A Case Study

A total of 322 respondents with an AB postcode prefix (237 coastal respondents and 85 national respondents) took part in the study, representing 16% of the entire sample. To put that into context, respondents from Inverness, Dundee or Kirkwall represent 7%, 10% and 3% of the entire sample respectively.

The AB postcode area is large (Figure 3.3), with 40 postcode districts and over 17,000 live postcodes and has a relatively high population density. As the sample was not stratified, to ensure even coverage along the coast, it follows that there will be a large number of respondents from the Aberdeen area, and awareness of the Aberdeen Bay offshore windfarm may be higher as a result.

Figure 3.3 Aberdeen (AB) postcode area alongside Kirkwall (KW), Inverness (IV) and Dundee (DD) postcode areas

shows two maps side by side. The map on the left shows the Aberdeen postcode area in detail, with districts outlined. The map on the right shows almost the whole of Scotland and the postcode areas of Aberdeen, Kirkwall, Inverness and Dundee.

Awareness of the Aberdeen Bay offshore wind farm is not limited to those within the AB postcode area, however. Of those respondents having awareness of the Aberdeen Bay offshore wind farm, two-thirds (66%) of respondents have an Aberdeen (AB) postcode, while the rest are from Dundee (DD), Kirkwall (KW) or Inverness (IV) postcode areas (Figure 3.4).

Figure 3.4 Postcode areas aware of Aberdeen Bay Offshore Wind farm

is a stacked bar chart showing the proportion of respondents from different postcode areas that were aware of the Aberdeen Bay offshore windfarm. The postcode areas included in the chart are Aberdeen, Dundee, Kirkwall and Inverness. As with figure 3.2, the coastal and national respondents are combined for this figure.

Base: National (n = 85), Coastal (n = 237)

This suggests that the high level of awareness of the Aberdeen Bay offshore wind farm is not restricted to the Aberdeen area and is not purely a result of the sampling used for the survey. Other factors such as the media attention given to the development and its proximity to shore may also play a part.

3.2 Approval of offshore wind farms

Among both national and coastal respondents there is extensive support for offshore wind farms, with around four in five people from both samples responding that they approve or strongly approve of them (Figure 3.5).

Figure 3.5 To what extent do you approve or disapprove of offshore wind farms?

is a stacked bar chart showing how participants responded to the question “To what extent do you approve or disapprove of offshore wind farms?”. Respondents could choose from the options “strongly approve”, “tend to approve”, “Neither”, “Tend to disapprove”, and “Strongly disapprove”. The respondents from National and Coastal respondents are presented, one above the other, for comparison.

Base: Scottish Residents (Coastal n = 1,065, National n = 1,000)

Sub-group analysis of national respondents for this question revealed only two significant differences, namely that:

  • men are more likely than women to approve of offshore wind farms, 85% versus 76%,
  • those in the ABC1 social grades are more likely to approve of offshore wind farms than those in the C2DE grades, 83% versus 76%.

Among coastal respondents, younger people tend to be more likely to approve (61% of under 34-year-olds strongly approve compared to 40% of over 65-year-olds). On the same theme, coastal respondents most likely to disapprove of offshore wind farm developments were those aged 65+ (12% compared to 2% of those under 35 years old).

3.3 Awareness and approval

Approval towards offshore wind farms is highest among respondents who have awareness of an offshore wind farm (84% strongly approve or tend to approve). Even so, approval is still high among those with no awareness of an offshore wind farm near to where they live, with 78% of this cohort approving of offshore wind farms (Figure 3.6).

Figure 3.6 Approval of offshore wind farm developments

is a stacked bar chart comparing the level of approval for offshore windfarms expressed by those who were aware of offshore windfarms with that of respondents who were not aware of offshore windfarms. The level of approval for each group (aware or not aware) is presented in a stacked bar chart.

Base: Scottish Residents (Coastal n = 1,065, National n = 1,000)

Contact

Email: ScotMER@gov.scot

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