The purpose of the survey is to understand attitudes and beliefs of people on the topic of commercial wind and solar power infrastructure and specific public policy measures under the government’s Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS). It is particularly aimed at establishing a baseline to compare the attitudes of those who live far (>10km) from new (as of 2022) commercial solar and wind farms with those who live near (<5km from) new infrastructure projects and who may (after 2022) benefit from RESS policies such as community benefit funds or household payments. Topics covered include standard socio-demographic variables; familiarity with renewable energy technologies; general attitude to wind and solar power; attitude to wind and solar projects near household; interaction with wind or solar power infrastructure; attitude to the planning process and RESS policies (community benefit fund and household payments). The survey data is joined to three variables that provide information on the characteristics of the renewable energy project spatially proximate to each respondent; i.e. the type of project (wind or solar), the scale of the project (MW ranges), and the distance to the nearest project (km ranges). The survey dataset is cross-sectional, but will also serve as the baseline for a longitudinal study that SEAI is conducting. The aim of the longitudinal study is to understand the effect of RESS policy measures on people who live near the commercial wind or solar PV projects developed under the scheme. Anonymized versions of follow-up surveys will also be shared as updates to this dataset. The first follow-up survey is scheduled for 2025. This dataset is derived from combining new survey data with extant planning data. Four variables in the dataset (‘pr_type_closest’, ‘pr_dist_ress’, ‘pr_dist_leg’ and ‘pr_scale’) are derived from an existing data collection that SEAI holds on wind turbine and solar PV project characteristics. More information on these are provided in the codebook.
Probability: Multistage. The sample started with 50 of the 68 renewable energy generation projects (wind and solar) that received offers of support under the first auction of the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS1). Treatment areas were defined as 10km from RESS1 sites. For treatment areas, spatial buffers of 0-1km, 1-2km, and 2-5km was created around each project site (turbine locations or solar array polygon). Survey starting points were selected within these buffers. Surveyors targeted a sample size per site of 5 < 1km, 5 within 1-2km, 10 within 2-5km. Control areas are 50 Electoral Districts (ED) >10km from a RESS1 site. Each ED site is matched to its ‘nearest neighbour’ control ED by propensity score, matching covariates were age, gender, population density, household size, distance to existing windfarms. The target was 10 interviews at each of the 50 control areas. More information on the sampling approach can be accessed in the accompanying project summary report.
Face-to-face interview: CAPI/CAMI
Compilation/Synthesis
