Our voices matter: people’s preference for regional electricity system design

As climate targets tighten, all countries must transition towards a renewable electricity. Many different types of power system designs are technically feasible, but there is little knowledge about which type of electricity future citizens prefer. Across Europe, and the world, there is growing public opposition against renewable electricity and power grid projects, indicating that the types of projects planned triggers resistance in the population. Hypothetically, it could therefore be possible to design renewable power systems and adapt them to citizen preferences instead of markets and minimum costs. In this paper, we investigate citizen preferences for a renewable electricity future, conform with the Paris Agreement, through a conjoint analysis among 4.100 individuals in Denmark, Portugal, Poland and Germany, in order to inform planning processes and find higher-acceptance transformation pathways for an either more centralised or decentralised electricity system. To our knowledge, this is the first large-n study systematically investigating citizen preferences for the decarbonisation of electricity systems in different countries, thereby making not only the trade-offs between different aims but also potential conflicts of preferences between European countries visible. We find that electricity costs and self-sufficiency are valued highest across all four countries. We also show that land use requirements are less important to people. This implies that renewable energy infrastructure can receive greater public legitimacy if it is carried out and communicated with direct, explicit links to regional and national energy self-sufficiency and if their potential to reduce electricity costs are emphasised.