Evolving response of a community to offshore wind energy development – an evaluation of human adaptation to transition

This paper explores responses of host communities to offshore wind energy infrastructure through a case study of the Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm (OWF), situated 2.4 km off the coast of northeast Scotland. Adopting a longitudinal mixed-methods research approach, the nearby communities’ evolving responses are explored across four phases of OWF development: pre-consent, consent, construction, and early operation. Schlossberg’s theory of human adaptation to transition is adopted as an analytical framework to explore how the factors and variables that mediate between human transition and adaptation are manifest in the case study. The conclusions demonstrate that human adaptation was shaped by the externally imposed nature of the transition, historic land legacy issues and the presence of an already altered physical environment. This paper offers original insight to the wider elements that can influence the socio-technical dimensions of energy transitions and the importance of developing long-term understanding of what supports human adaptation.