We are interested in how economic, regulatory and social issues relate to small scale HEP development and shape the outcome of planning applications. The implicit or explicit values placed on environmental factors (visual, biodiversity etc.) and attitudes to local development are also being examined.
We are characterising and comparing real-world HEP developments in the context of the planning, regulatory and governance issues, trade-offs with other ecosystem services (including competing water demands, environmental impacts) and climate change resilience. Interviews with key protagonists and desk officers dealing with planning cases will be undertaken to characterise a range of successful and unsuccessful HEP developments.
To find out more about this work contact Jelte Harnmeijer [1].
Links:
[1] mailto:Jelte.Harnmeijer@hutton.ac.uk