Abstract for:Onshore wind energy in the region Rivierenland; The potential impact of citizen participation

Following national environmental goals, regional plans have been developed to guide the Netherlands towards the goal of CO2 emissions reduction. The region of Rivierenland in the province of Gelderland, who aims to produce 50 Megawatts of energy per year by 2025 from windmills, is not seeing the progress they expected. In this research we have built a system dynamics model to help the region Rivierenland to strategize on how it would be possible to speed up the process. One of the questions the region has expressed particular interest in, is the potential impact of participatory business models in wind energy development. Our research has modelled the regional wind energy market and compared the differences between the use of more traditional investors and cooperatives that had their grassroots in local communities. Based on interviews we have conducted, we discovered that the cooperatives have larger chances of success in recent cases, as well as a faster process time. There is also a noticeable improvement in the speed of attaining the set wind energy output goal when the local governments inform citizens better, as well as when more ground is made available.