Rural areas attract a large portion of the deployment of renewable energies. But do they really benefit from it? Using case studies assessing 16 rural regions in Europe, Canada and United States, theOrganization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has investigated this in a two year on-field research project. Solar Novus TodaySenior Editor Andreas Breyer has asked Raffaele Trapasso, Economist with the OECD Rural Development Program and author of the OECD report titled “Linking Renewable Energy to Rural Development” about the major results and the role of solar energy herein.
Solar Novus Today (SNT): Mr. Trapasso, when you look at the 16 regions you investigated that range from Prince Edward Island in Canada to Extremadura in Spain: What do they have in common in their deployment of renewable energies?
Raffaele Trapasso: All of them try to have multiple outcomes from renewable energy (RE) deployment. RE policy should mitigate climate change, improve energy security and create job opportunities (and economic development). However, when it comes to implementing the projects, harmonizing these three drivers is very hard. In some cases, they are actually conflicting…
SNT: Were you able to identify general benefits of RE deployment in these rural areas?
RT: There are several benefits. For instance, rural communities hosting RE installations have increased their tax base, or receive money from developers. These funds are used to improve public services. Some valuable jobs are created in rural communities. There is a sort of empowerment of local institutions and communities, who have to deal with complex projects. And, for the remote (or very cold) areas there is also reduction of fuel poverty or fuel cost. In general, when the RE policy is tailored to the local features and needs, benefits are more evident. For instance, in mid-Sweden (one of the case studies) forestry is supplying the regional district heating system with forest residuals. This allowed forest owners to diversify their business and to get an extra income from their activity. At a smaller scale, a municipality in Abruzzo, Italy, has installed PV panels on the roof of the local school. The municipality used feed-in-tariff to refurbish the local school.
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