Injecting Useful and Credible Information into Wind Power Siting Workshop
The New England Wind Forum and New England Wind Energy Education Project hosted a one-day workshop on October 26, 2012 at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, Massachusetts focusing on the role of information on issues impacting public acceptance in the appropriate siting of wind power in New England. The workshop included hands-on plenary sessions, panel presentations, and professionally facilitated small group discussions.
See the full agenda.
Open Plenary: Welcome and Introduction
This presentation was presented by:
- Deborah Donovan, Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC
- Ian Baring-Gould, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- Bob Grace, Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC
- Stacie Smith, Consensus Building Institute
Panel I: The Use of Information in Wind Siting — Lessons from the Field
This panel was moderated by Rob Garrity, MA Climate Action Network.
The panel included:
Breakout Session I: The Use of Information in Wind Siting — Identification, Categorization and Prioritization
The breakout sessions were small group discussions on information needed for effective wind siting decisions guided by a series of questions and input from the pre-workshop survey and Session I presentations.
See the Break Out Session I: Report Back Summary.
Panel II: Developing Information in Wind Siting — Joint Fact-finding and Stakeholder Engagement Models
This panel was moderated by Stacie Smith, Consensus Building Institute.
The panel included:
Breakout Session II: Developing Information in Wind Siting — Overcoming Obstacles and Setting Priorities
In this breakout session, the participants examined questions such as:
- How can information needed for wind siting be developed such that it is legitimate, credible, and salient?
- What are the obstacles to stakeholder engagement in information gathering and how can they be overcome?
- What can be done to institutionalize collaborative processes to maximize efficiency and usefulness?
See the Break Out Session II: Report Back Summary.
Closing Plenary: Putting Ideas into Action
The workshop culminated in a high level review of presentations, panels, and prior breakout sessions. Participants took part in a professionally facilitated full group discussion around:
- Elements of a framework for informational resources.
- A method for developing and deploying such resources during stakeholder engagement processes.
- A set of next steps, funding and a timeline.
Pre-Workshop Survey Results
These are the questionnaires from the pre-workshop surveys and the raw data collected from them:
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