Abstract
The dynamism of offshore wind farm development in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the potential changes associated with this has triggered a contentious multi-stakeholder debate on the future of this technology off the German North Sea coast. To lay the foundation for a constructive dialogue of various development options, current stakeholder positions on offshore wind farms were canvassed and driving forces behind the stated opinions identified. A stakeholder analysis formed the core of our research, which formed part of the national research project “Coastal Futures – Zukunft Küste”. We identified relevant stakeholders through stakeholder mapping and investigated positions and attitudes through content analysis (text documents), questionnaire survey, network analysis and media analysis. Both individual and group stakeholders were analysed. Results gave a differentiated picture of positions and arguments and some of the narratives behind these. Differences emerged between attitudes to offshore wind farming per se and individual wind farms, as well as between local stakeholder concerns and the perception of regional/national stakeholders (see also Kannen et al., this volume). In terms of arguments used to justify positions, nature conservation was the most frequent reason for opposing offshore wind farms, followed by shipping safety in case of local stakeholders and seascape aesthetics in case of local residents. Common arguments in favour were renewable energies, climate/sea level rise and local economic benefits. Based on these results, it is possible to identify potential coalitions of interest and to pinpoint likely sources of conflict before embarking on an ICZM process.
