Energised Welsh communities: making connections between place and Community Renewable Energy
Places of Climate Change (PloCC)
Sioned Williams
The presentation focuses on the findings of a PhD study centred on identifying what are the roles and meanings of community and place attachment for Welsh communities within a community renewable energy (CRE) context, in these often place-based projects. This was across a range of four case studies and a consortium in North and South Wales. The study details the contextual setting for the renewable energy projects across the case studies, identifying the relationship between communities, their landscape and renewable energy. The study explored a range of perspectives on the meanings, experiences and representations of ‘community’ and ‘place’, including different forms of place attachment. The findings importantly highlighted how place attachment was the context for, but also shaped the engagement of communities with CRE projects. This included how natural resources were utilised over time in post-industrial communities.
Ìý