CPT909: Renewable Energy Development and Planning
School | Cardiff School of Geography and Planning |
Department Code | GEOPL |
Module Code | CPT909 |
External Subject Code | 100478 |
Number of Credits | 20 |
Level | L7 |
Language of Delivery | English |
Module Leader | Professor Richard Cowell |
Semester | Autumn Semester |
Academic Year | 2018/9 |
Outline Description of Module
A major contemporary challenge is to achieve a shift towards more sustainable systems of energy provision. Renewable energy sources are a key ingredient of such transitions, but delivering an expansion of renewable energy raises big issues for the relationship between society, energy, government and the landscape. This places planning in a pivotal position, and it is the role of this module to develop an advanced understanding of the roles that planning can perform.
After introducing students to key technologies, trends and patterns in the development of renewable energy – organised with theories of ‘transition pathways’ – the module provides the following: an outline and analysis of the conventional role of planning in renewable energy decision-making; the role of zoning strategies and new infrastructure decision-making regimes; the role of planning and other actions (such as fostering community-ownership of renewable energy) in fostering wider societal support; more radical energy planning ideas, such as the pursuit of 100% renewable energy regions.
On completion of the module a student should be able to
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Understand the various factors shaping the emergence and expansion of different renewable energy technologies, including resource availability and market structures;
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Evaluate the effectiveness of key planning strategies for promoting renewable energy (zoning, centralisation, and bottom-up strategies like opportunities mapping)
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Develop a nuanced understanding of society-energy relations, as revealed and shaped by planning, including the limits of ‘NIMBY’ concepts, and ways of fostering better societal engagement
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Evaluate the merits of different renewable energy pathways, those based on large-scale centralised infrastructures and more decentralised systems
How the module will be delivered
The module will be delivered through a combination of lectures, reading seminars and workshops. There will be a two hour lecture every week, accompanied by PowerPoint slides that summarise key issues. These slides will form the basis of class handouts which, along with suggested additional reading, will be made available via Learning Central before each lecture commences. In some lectures, small-scale group work exercises will be conducted in which students report back to the class as a whole.
There will be five reading seminars during the module, in separate timetabled slots. Students will be issued with items of reading (usually a short chapter or academic paper) one week prior to each seminar and be expected to read it and think about some key questions, which are also provided in advance. Completion of the reading will be incentivised by a short multi-choice test, completed prior to the seminar. In the seminars, students work in small groups and with the lecturer to explore answers to the key questions. For the seminars, students are organised into groups of 10-15.
There will be session(s) led by a visiting speaker(s) from the world of practice.
Skills that will be practised and developed
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Students will be required to interpret and critically evaluate planning approaches.
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Students will be required to write well-structured and coherent analyses of different planning approaches and their effects on renewable energy development.
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Students will advance their understanding of public engagement in planning, and its effects on attitudes to development, and reconsider the salience of labels like NIMBYism
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Students will be able to critically evaluate changes in government planning policy, especially as they apply to major infrastructure.
How the module will be assessed
The formal assessment of this module is in three parts. The first part, worth 10%, is based on the completion of five multi-choice tests. These are linked to the reading required to participate in the reading seminars, and are designed to encourage students to understand carefully the items they are reading. The tests will be administered on-line. The second part, worth 30%, is the production of a consultation response to a recent government consultation connected to renewable energy. The remaining 60% will be an essay, focus on one of six pre-given questions.
THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:
Re-assessment
Students are permitted to be reassessed in a module which they have failed, in line with University regulations. https://intranet.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/teaching-and-supporting-students/teaching-support/academic-regulations. You will only be reassessed on the components of the module in which you have failed. The format of the reassessment will be the same as the original assessment and will take place in the Summer re-sit period.
Types of Assessment:
1. Multi-choice Tests - 10% contribution
Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4
2. Coursework - 30% contribution - 1200 words - Consultation response
Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4
3. Essay - 60% contribution - 2500 words
Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4
Assessment Breakdown
Type | % | Title | Duration(hrs) |
---|---|---|---|
Written Assessment | 10 | Multi-Choice Tests | N/A |
Written Assessment | 30 | Consultation Response | N/A |
Written Assessment | 60 | Essay | N/A |
Syllabus content
This module examines the role of planning in shaping renewable energy development. After introducing students to key technologies, trends and patterns in the development of renewable energy – organised with theories of ‘transition pathways’ – the module covers the following: an outline and analysis of the conventional role of planning in renewable energy decision-making; the role of zoning strategies and new infrastructure decision-making regimes; the role of planning and other actions, such as fostering community-ownership, in fostering wider societal support for renewable energy; more radical energy planning ideas, such as the pursuit of 100% renewable energy regions. The principle focus is the UK, but the content will also draw on relevant experiences from Europe, North America and beyond.
Essential Reading and Resource List
Szarka J, Cowell R, Ellis G, Strachan P A and Warren C eds (2012) Learning from Wind Power. Governance, Societal and Policy Perspectives on Sustainable Energy, Palgrave: Basingstoke, Hants, pp.61-84.
Background Reading and Resource List
Cowell R (2010) ‘Wind power, landscape and strategic, spatial planning – the construction of “acceptable locations” in Wales’, Land Use Policy 27, 222-232.
Ellis G, Cowell R, Warren C, Strachan P and Szarka J 2009 ‘Expanding wind power: a problem of planning, or of perception?’ Interface article for Planning Theory and Practice 10(4), 521-547
Haggett C (2011) ‘”Planning and persuasion”: public engagement in renewable energy decision-making’, in Devine-Wright P (ed.) Renewable Energy and the Public. From NIMBY to Participation, Earthscan: London, pp.15-28.
MacKay D (2008) Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air, Cambridge: UIT.
McLaren Loring J (2007) ‘Wind energy planning in England, Wales and Denmark: factors influencing project success’, Energy Policy 35, 2648-2660.
Nadai A (2007) ‘”Planning”, “siting” and the local acceptance of wind power: some lessons from the French case’, Energy Policy 35, 2715-2726.
Power S and Cowell R (2012) ‘Wind power and spatial planning in the UK’, in Szarka J, Cowell R, Ellis G, Strachan P A and Warren C eds (2012) Learning from Wind Power. Governance, Societal and Policy Perspectives on Sustainable Energy, Palgrave: Basingstoke, Hants, pp.61-84.
Shove E (1998) ‘Gaps, barriers and conceptual chasms: theories of technology transfer and energy in buildings’, Energy Policy 26(15), 1105-1112.
Wolsink M (2000) ‘Wind power and the NIMBY myth’, Renewable Energy 21910, 49-64.