By providing externality estimates, and analyzing the determinants of the time period for renewable project preparation, this study aims to contribute to rationalizing measures for improving the local acceptance of renewable-energy power plants. To that end, the analysis is divided into three main parts. Chapter 2 reviews contemporary literature to identify the elements that form local acceptance and summarizes Korea’s key policies in relation to local acceptance before presenting two major empirical analyses. Chapter 3 quantitatively estimates the externality of renewable energy capacities―a source of many community-level complaints―in order to provide empirical findings for the rationalization of regulations and incentives. Chapter 4 empirically analyzes the causes of delays during a project preparation period, and verifies the impact of factors that form local acceptance, including the externalities. Based on the above analyses, Chapter 5 summarizes the results and draws on the policy implications.

Chapter 2 examines preceding studies and finds the main determinants of local acceptance of renewable energy capacities to be 1) the costs of negative externalities borne by individuals and; 2) fairness issues with respect to spatial proximity and fair procedures. This is followed by a review of major policies designed to improve local acceptance which are divided into three main types: i) site standards such as separation distance regulations implemented by local governments; ii) compensation strategies for local residents who are directly affected including support programs under the Act on Assistance to Electric Power Plants-neighboring Areas and the benefit-sharing schemes at individual power plant projects; and iii) project procedures such as locating planning systems that aim to guarantee fairness. Reviewing these policies, this chapter confirms that, in order to enhance the effectiveness of relevant measures designed to improve local acceptance, it needs to understand the factors that cause delays in project planning as well as on the negative externalities on areas near plants.

Chapter 3 attempts to estimate the scale of the externalities through the difference-in-differences method under the hedonic model after identifying negative externalities from solar and wind plants, respectively. In this analysis, the treatment effect on housing prices is defined as the effect of the ‘aggregate capacities within a 2km of each house at the time of its transaction.’ The unique housing transaction dataset, covering the period 2006-2019, is used, as well as the size and location of renewable plants in operation during the period. To minimize possible interference from other energy sources, the regional scope for the estimation was narrowed to area where each type of plants is concentrated: Jeollabuk-do, Jeollanam-do, and Gwangju-si for solar farms, and Gangwon-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and Ulsan-si for wind farms. Key analysis findings confirmed that both solar and wind capacities produced negative externalities in the vicinity. In addition, the effective radius and size of the externalities were found to vary from each other.

Chapter 4 outlines the typical process of large-scale renewable energy projects, including licensing/permits. As a new attempt, a survival analysis was carried out based on the information on the duration of the project preparation―the time period taken to start operations after being permitted. In doing so, explanatory variables reflecting the determinants of local acceptance are set where, in particular, based on the analysis results of Chapter 3, explanatory variables for the environmental impacts are included. The analysis utilized the data on project details and related regional characteristics of 390 solar and wind projects of which installed capacities are over 3MW and for which business permits are obtained during 2004-March 2020. According to the analysis higher capacities entail more delays, and this pattern can be observed in both solar and wind projects. In the case of large-scale solar energy projects (e.g., capacities exceeding 50MW), it was confirmed that the preparation period takes significantly longer when there are more housing within the 2-5km radius which has little relevance to direct externality.

The policy implications are summarized in Chapter 5. Factors that have a major impact on the local acceptance of renewable energy projects can be largely divided into i) ‘negative externalities that occur disproportionately according to proximity’ and ii) ‘fairness in procedures related to community participation,’ where the latter is associated with broader geographic proximity. To substantially improve local acceptance, a dual strategy can be useful. It entails government supports that compensate environmental effects for local residents who are directly exposed to the externalities, in collaboration with benefit-sharing schemes that induce participations of local residents with a wider geographical area. More specific policy suggestions are two-fold: i) support programs for neighboring areas under the Act on Assistance to Electric Power Plants-neighboring Areas need to provide concentrated assistance to a narrower scope of targets than the current 5km. In the case of the benefit-sharing approaches, participation should be facilitated by sharing necessary information on the revenue generation mechanism and by broadening the spatial scope eligible for participation.

Preface
Executive Summary

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Determinants of Local Acceptance and Key Policies Related to Regional Acceptance
　Section 1 Literature Review on Determinants of Local Acceptance
　Section 2 Key Policies Related to Regional Acceptance: Site Regulations
　Section 3 Key Policies Related to Regional Acceptance: Compensation Strategies
　Section 4 Key Policies Related to Regional Acceptance: Project Procedures

Chapter 3 Analysis of Externalities from Renewable Energy Facilities
　Section 1 Types of Externalities from Renewable Energy Facilities
　Section 2 Literature Review on Externality Estimation
　Section 3 Analysis Methods
　Section 4 Data for Analysis
　Section 5 Results of Externality Estimation
　Section 6 Summary and Implications

Chapter 4 Analysis of Project Preparation Period for Renewable Energy Facilities
　Section 1 Project Procedures for Renewable Energy Development
　Section 2 Literature Review on Project Start Probabilities
　Section 3 Analysis Methods
　Section 4 Data for Analysis
　Section 5 Analysis Results on Determinants of Project Preparation Periods
　Section 6 Summary and Implications

Chapter 5 Conclusion and Policy Implications
　Section 1 Summary of Findings
　Section 2 Policy Implications

References
Appendix
ABSTRACT