Survey: Most Czechs support wind power, coal draws the least interest

Most Czechs support the development of wind farms, which they believe can help strengthen energy security and independence. By contrast, around 13 percent agree with restricting them. This is according to a survey by the Focus agency for the environmental group Hnutí Duha. Hydropower received the strongest support, while coal power received significantly less.

The survey, conducted among 1000 respondents from 9 February to 2 March, was prompted by the current debate over the development of wind farms. Experts say the debate has become quite heated recently.

According to the survey’s authors, around 63 percent of people support wind power. The poll also found that a majority of voters for the governing coalition of ANO, SPD and Motorists for Themselves support the use of wind energy. Wind farms received the highest level of support among people under 29 and the lowest among those over 60. Conversely, around 13 percent of respondents agreed with restricting wind power.

“Looking at social media, in recent weeks one could easily get the impression that most Czech men and women are fiercely opposed to wind farms. But objective public opinion polling data show otherwise,” said Jan Rovenský, an energy expert at Hnutí Duha.

He said that a very vocal, but relatively small, minority of opponents is trying to dominate public debate.

According to Bohumil Frantál of the Institute of Geonics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the general pattern is that in areas where wind farms are built, the share of people who accept wind turbines gradually increases. “People get used to them as a normal part of the landscape, recognize their benefits, and earlier unfounded fears about negative impacts that never materialized fade away, among other things. In municipalities near which wind farms are already operating, people vote in favour of wind farms in referendums significantly more often,” he said.

The survey also looked at other energy sources. The researchers recorded the highest level of support, at up to 80 percent of respondents, for hydropower. A majority of respondents also supported the development of solar and nuclear power, as well as energy from biomass and natural gas.

By contrast, respondents expressed significantly less interest in coal power. Twenty-nine percent would like to see it further developed. The survey found a higher share of people who would instead restrict the further use of coal to generate electricity and heat: 37 percent.

In recent weeks, the coalition of ANO, SPD and Motorists for Themselves has announced several times that it plans to reconsider some of its plans for developing wind power. It wants to revise in particular the system of so-called acceleration zones for faster permitting of renewable energy projects. These are administratively designated areas where projects are supposed to be approved more quickly and easily. The Ministry of the Environment recently announced, however, that it wants to keep wind and solar farm construction in these areas at least one kilometer from municipalities.