Willingness to pay for reduced visual disamenities from off-shore wind farms in Denmark

TY - CONF

T1 - Willingness to pay for reduced visual disamenities from off-shore wind farms in Denmark

AU - Ladenburg, Jacob

AU - Dubgaard, Alex

N1 - Conference code: 3

PY - 2006

Y1 - 2006

N2 - Expansion of the off-shore wind power capacity plays a significant role in the wind power strategy in many EU countries. However, off-shore wind farms are associated with visual disamenities. The disamenities can be reduced by locating the wind farms at larger distances from the coast. But, the costs per kWh produced increase as the distance is augmented. In this paper, peoples’ willingness to pay for a reduction in the visual disamenity of off-shore wind farms is elicited using the economic valuation method Choice Experiments. The economic valuation scenario comprises the locations of 3600 MW of future off-shore wind farms at; 12 km, 18 km and 50 km from the shore, relative to an 8 km baseline. Using a fixed effect logit model, the average willingness to pay, as an additional annual amount for electricity, are estimated to be 46, 96 and 122 euros/household/year for locating wind farms at 12, 18 and 50 km from the coast opposed to 8 km. The results also reveal that the WTP deviate strongly with regards to the age of the respondent and the experiences with off-shore wind farms. These properties of the WTP are believed to have significant policy related consequences. Keywords: Visual Disamenities, off-shore wind farms, choice experiments, fixed effect logit, willingness to pay.

AB - Expansion of the off-shore wind power capacity plays a significant role in the wind power strategy in many EU countries. However, off-shore wind farms are associated with visual disamenities. The disamenities can be reduced by locating the wind farms at larger distances from the coast. But, the costs per kWh produced increase as the distance is augmented. In this paper, peoples’ willingness to pay for a reduction in the visual disamenity of off-shore wind farms is elicited using the economic valuation method Choice Experiments. The economic valuation scenario comprises the locations of 3600 MW of future off-shore wind farms at; 12 km, 18 km and 50 km from the shore, relative to an 8 km baseline. Using a fixed effect logit model, the average willingness to pay, as an additional annual amount for electricity, are estimated to be 46, 96 and 122 euros/household/year for locating wind farms at 12, 18 and 50 km from the coast opposed to 8 km. The results also reveal that the WTP deviate strongly with regards to the age of the respondent and the experiences with off-shore wind farms. These properties of the WTP are believed to have significant policy related consequences. Keywords: Visual Disamenities, off-shore wind farms, choice experiments, fixed effect logit, willingness to pay.

KW - Former LIFE faculty

KW - Visual disamenities

KW - Offf-shore wind farms

KW - Choice experiments

KW - Fixed effect logit

KW - Willingness to pay

M3 - Paper

T2 - The World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists

Y2 - 3 July 2006 through 7 July 2006

ER -