A team from the Galician Wind Observatory travels throughout Muras to contrast the level of Energy Justice in wind development in the Serra do Xistral

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During 4 days, the Galician Wind Observatory visited the 8 parishes of Muras in the search of people willing to participate in the elaboration of the Questionnaire about Energy Justice in the Municipality of the so-called Terra Cha of Lugo, located in the heart of the Serra do Xistral.

 

Why Muras?

This 165 km² City Council with less than 700 inhabitants has 21 wind farms in its territory (several shared with the neighboring municipalities) and nearly 400 wind turbines. It is the Galician city council with the largest number of wind turbines and the largest installed capacity. It is the ground zero of wind development. In fact, it is almost impossible to look towards the horizon of Muras and not see wind turbines. Likewise, it is just as difficult to not encounter half a dozen cars carrying the names of the companies managing these wind farms.

Why Energetic Justice?

 

It is a new analytical framework for the systematic analyses in the field of energy. The main references are Sovacool and Dworkin (2015), Mundaca et al., (2018), Jenkins et al., (2016), Heffron and McCauley (2014). This analytical proposal seems is very appealing to further our knowledge on wind development and thus contribute to the advancement of the economic, social and environmental conditions of this energy component. The GWO has been studying this new analytical framework over recent months. We believe it would be convenient to test the level of energy justice specifically in this part of the region.

What type of Survey?

This questionnaire consists of 20 closed questions and 1 open question. It includes factors of characterization on the respondent, and it has 4 major blocks: distributive, procedural, and recognition justice and energy transition. More than 50 surveys were conducted on a great diversity of agents. Each survey required between 45 and 60 minutes.

When will the results be presented?

The first results will be presented after the Advisory Committee of the Wind Observatory meets. Subsequently, the information will be released through activities that will take place in Muras and other Xistral municipalities. In addition, at least one scientific article will be published.

References:

Heffron, R.J., McCauley, D.A. 2014.  Achieving sustainable supply chains through energy justice Applied Energy, 123, 435-437 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.12.034

Jenkins, K., McCauley, D., Heffron, R., Stephan, H., Rehner, R. 2016. Energy justice: A conceptual review. ‎Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 11, 174–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.10.004

Mundaca, L., Busch, H., Schwer, S. 2018. ‘Successful’ low-carbon energy transitions at the community level? An energy justice perspective. Applied Energy. 218, 292-303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.02.146

Sovacool B.K., Dworkin M.H. 2015. Energy justice:  Conceptual insights and practical applications Applied Energy, 142, 435–444 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.01.002