Regional Attitudes to Renewables

With rising energy bills, retiring coal-fire plants and the continuing onset of climate change, the renewable energy transition is now more urgent than it’s ever been. But building renewable infrastructure to facilitate the transition is only half the battle. Community opposition in regional areas, where much of these renewable projects must go, is still a significant hurdle to cross. New research from Curtin University has assessed regional attitudes in several WA communities, finding that it’s less a question of “if communities support renewables” and more “under what conditions would they support renewables”.

Fiona Bartholomaeus chats with Professor Mingming Cheng from the school of digital management and marketing at Curtin University.