Social Acceptability of Offshore Wind Projects in Greece: Citizen Perspectives on Challenging Issues of Site-Selection Problem

Lack of social acceptance remains a major constraint towards offshore wind project (OWP) deployment. The incorporation of local population perspectives and concerns into the site-selection process of OWPs can assist to overcome the respective barriers. In this work, an appropriately designed methodological framework is introduced for the identification of citizen perspectives on many challenging issues of site-selection of OWPs. The methodology includes three consecutive phases: (Phase 1) design of questionnaire survey and acquisition of citizen responses; (Phase 2) quantitative and qualitative analysis of citizen responses and synthesis of survey results; and (Phase 3) creation of an OWP roadmap for Greece in GIS, in accordance with the citizen perspectives and requirements. In total, 1,802 citizens participated in the survey from various geographic locations of all Regions of Greece. The survey results reveal the high social acceptability (80.6% of the participants) for OWP deployment in Greece and present the citizen requirements on the selection of eligible sites for their installation (e.g., a minimum distance of 5,000 m from shoreline has been suggested (median value)). In conclusion, the proposed participatory tool could facilitate the deployment of OWPs in Greece, by avoiding socially unsustainable sites and, thus, strongly enhancing the social acceptability of the future projects.