The Danish Model for Citizen Engagement in the Renewable energy Transition (DART)
Spurred by the ambition of accelerating the green fuels transition, the DART project aims to develop a model for engaging citizens and interest groups in the establishment and operation of renewable energy systems.
The objective of the project is to investigate public resistance, citizen engagement, and democratic participation in the context of the green energy transition in Denmark. While a vast majority of the Danish population support the green transition, there is still a significant concern and resistance from local citizens and interest groups when it comes to the implementation of wind turbines, solar parks, PtX facilities and nuclear plants. This has spurred industry and policymakers to view civil resistance as a potential barrier that risks slowing down the green transition.
The DART project takes an alternative approach by proposing that protesters, through their interference with industrial and political interests, engage in and contribute to a broader societal debate about societal change and new forms of participatory politics. Thus, the project defines local resistance not as being anti-government or anti-green, but rather as a venue for citizens to perform a democratic citizenship. By adopting this approach, the research aims to achieve two main objectives: firstly, to map and analyze the reasons behind resistance and protest; and secondly, to design models that facilitate citizen engagement in democratic participatory processes.
In collaboration with key partners and with an interdisciplinary social scientific approach, including law, political science and anthropology, the designed model will enhance collaboration across scales.
The model will thereby guide stakeholders across the green fuels value chain in creating engagement among local citizens.
This will lead to three results:
- Mitigate time consuming and costly conflicts with local citizens and interest groups
- Provide an innovative environment for collaboration across the value chain
- Open a public dialogue for developing an engaged and democratic citizenship within the renewable energy transition.
To reach these results, the model will operate on three levels:
- On micro level, the model will describe barriers and drivers for citizen engagement and develop best practices and tools which will enhance the capacity of stakeholders to include citizens early in the development of renewable energy systems, thus facing their concerns and needs upfront.
- On meso level, the model will develop structures and procedures for cross-cutting collaboration between all actors in the value chain which will provide a solid foundation for establishing productive relations, thus softening potential conflicts of interests.
- On macro level, the model will develop recommendations for national policies and regulations which will improve levels of citizen engagement, thus creating a framework useful for policy makers.
The DART project consists of three Work Packages.
Department of Anthropology (UCPH) will lead WP1, which will document experiences with citizen engagement as well as develop and test best practice at three Power-to-X projects in Esbjerg, Aalborg, and Bornholm.
Department of Political Science (UCPH) will lead WP2, which will focus on the use of so-called citizens’ assemblies as a way to allow citizens to discuss and weigh local interests and political concerns.
CLIMA at the Faculty of Law will lead WP3, which deals with the legal questions arising under the DART project.
The DART project is created through the collaboration between European Energy, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Behave Green, Danish Center for Energy Storage (DaCES), Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, Danish Institute of Fire and Security Technology and CLIMA and is conducted through cross-project synergies with the following projects and networks:
RIGHydro – Regulatory Innovation to Incentivize Green Hydrogen
DEEP – Designing Community Collaboration for Sustainable Energy Parks
In the nearest future the DART team will publish a rapport and a paper based on their research.
Besides academic publications, the outcome of the project is also being communicated in presentations, opinion articles and news articles in national media.
Presentations:
RIGHydro – DART Presentations for the thematic panel: "Citizen Engagement in Green Energy Transition" at the 2024 Annual AHRI Conference:
- Simon Lex and Viktor Weber: The right to resist: Protest as public engagement in
the Danish renewable energy transition
News articles
June 9th, 2023: Simon Westergaard Lex wrote an opinion article about wind energy in the Danish media Ingeniøren. The article is titled ´Giv beboere del i VE-sektorens guldrus´(in Danish).
April 12th, 2023: Simon Westergaard Lex was interviewed for a news article titled `Simon Lex forsker i ‘Not in my backyard’: Borgermodstand mod solceller og vindmøller kan være positivt´ in the Danish media Altinget. The article discusses how citizens´ resistance against the placement of powerplants for renewable energy in their neighbourhoods, also can lead to innovative and creative solutions in the green transition.
The research team from the DART project has organised and participated in different workshops and events:
RIGHydro - DART Kick-Off Workshop, Tuesday, 3rd September 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark
RIGHydro – DART Thematic Panel "Citizen Engagement in Green Energy Transition" at the 2024 AHRI Annual Conference, Friday, 13th September 2024, Lund, Sweden
Researchers
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search in Name | Search in Title | Search in Phone | |
| Beatriz Martinez Romera | Head of Centre, Associate Professor | +4535323180 | |
| Caroline Anna Salling | Postdoc | +4535332529 | |
| Kasper Tang Vangkilde | Associate Professor | +4551942767 | |
| Kristin Smette Gulbrandsen | Postdoc | +4535337481 | |
| Lars Tønder | Professor with special responsibilities | +4535320489 | |
| Simon Westergaard Lex | Associate Professor | +4535323458 | |
| Viktor Weber | Postdoc | +4535322355 |
Funded by:
The Danish Model for Citizen Engagement in the Renewable energy Transition (DART) has received a three year funding from Innovation Fund Denmark.
Project: DART The Danish Model for Citizen Engagement in the Renewable energy Transition
Period: April 2023 to April 2026
Contact
Simon Westergaard Lex
Associate professor
Department of Anthropology
Telephone: +45 35 32 34 58
Email: simon.lex@anthro.ku.dk