The Socio-Economic Cost of Wind Turbines: A Swedish Case Study

• Published in: Sustainability
• Main Authors: Hans Westlund, Mats Wilhelmsson
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2021
• Subjects: sustainability; wind turbines; capitalization; housing values; hedonic analysis; reindeer husbandry
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126892

The expansion of wind turbines plays a significant role in developing the ability of a country like Sweden to achieve climate-neutral energy production without relying on nuclear power plants. Wind-turbine energy production is expected to grow in the coming decades. Conflicts may arise between, on the one hand, the government and the energy authority, and, on the other hand, municipalities and property owners, especially if this expansion affects other economic activities, such as tourism and reindeer husbandry, or property values. This report aims to analyse the negative capitalization of wind turbines on property values in Sweden over the last ten years. Our conclusions clearly show a relatively significant capitalization and that this capitalization is relatively local, within eight kilometers of the wind power plant. Large wind turbines, or larger clusters of wind turbines in wind farms, impose a greater socio-economic cost on lower value properties.