Siting Locally-Unwanted Facilities: What Can Be Learnt from the Location of Italian Power Plants
37 Pages Posted: 19 May 2010 Last revised: 24 Jul 2012
Date Written: January 11, 2011
Abstract
The reaction of communities to the development of energy facilities is based on the environmental impact of the investment, but it also reflects the ex-ante propensity of residents to engage in collective actions. In this work we have examined the requests of authorization of Italian power producers for green-field thermal plants with the purpose of testing the efficiency of market-based siting policies. The classical comparative advantages of locations, e.g. infrastructure availability , have been confirmed to play a role. Besides, the authorization demands have been found to target, all other things being equal, the communities that suffer less environmental damage. However our findings have also revealed that power producers are likely to avoid environmentally suitable sites if they host a highly activist community. The paper also discusses some modifications concerning siting policies that could improve the alignment between community responses and the environmental costs of new energy facilities.
Keywords: siting, public acceptance, voice, power generation
JEL Classification: Q48, L94
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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