Resistance to wind turbines in municipalities is decreasing

More and more Dutch people are open to the idea of installing turbines or solar parks in their municipalities. Resistance has decreased due to the war in Ukraine and the impact of the sanctions against Russia, according to research agency Motivaction after a poll among more than a thousand Dutch people.

More than a third of the Dutch say they would like to see more solar parks (37 percent) and wind turbines (36 percent) in their municipality. Before the war in Ukraine, this was 29 and 26 percent respectively.

According to the Dutch Association for Sustainable Energy (NVDE), which commissioned the research, support for sustainable energy projects has increased as a result of the war in Ukraine. Especially because the goal is to get rid of the dependence on fossil energy from Russia.

Four in 10 respondents considered investments in sustainable energy projects to be very important. Just under half of the respondents were in favor of sustainable energy generation or of energy saving measures like insulation.

The lion's share of the respondents (84 percent) are concerned about their own energy bill. In addition, the transition to sustainable energy is not going fast enough for barely half of the respondents.

The question of whether gas extraction in Groningen should be increased again caused division. More than a third said yes. An almost equally large percentage is opposed to gas extraction in Groningen. The opponents are mainly found in the north and east.