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In a representative survey of 6,284 people in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), political orientation was more closely associated with support for local onshore wind expansion than whether respondents lived in urban or rural areas. Trust in institutions and perceptions of fair planning procedures were also closely linked to support. These are reported associations, not evidence that political orientation or trust causes any individual’s view.
What the NRW survey found
Jörg Radtke of the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) examined social characteristics associated with local wind-energy acceptance in a representative survey of 6,284 people in North Rhine-Westphalia. The institute’s summary, published 5 October 2026, reports that political orientation had the strongest structural correlation with local acceptance after accounting for other social characteristics. The paper is identified as “Gaps in mind: Political and spatial cleavages in local onshore wind attitudes in Germany,” published in Energy Policy as article 115475 (DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115475). Read the RIFS summary.
Political orientation tracked support more closely than residence
For support for expanding wind energy in respondents’ own district, the reported average was around 3.6 out of 5 among respondents who did not intend to vote for the AfD, compared with around 1.5 among those who intended to vote for the AfD. The pattern was similar in urban and rural areas; differences between urban and rural respondents within each voting-intention group were minor.
This finding challenges the idea that local wind conflicts are primarily an urban-versus-rural divide. It does not mean that residence never matters, or that every respondent in a political group shared the group’s average. The comparison concerns stated voting intention and district-level expansion support in this NRW survey; it should not be treated as a prediction for other elections, countries, technologies, or individual wind projects.
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Trust and fair procedures were also closely linked to support
Support was closely associated with trust in independent science, planning authorities, politicians, media, and other public institutions, as well as with whether siting procedures seemed fair and transparent. The summary says that including project-related factors in the statistical models explained significantly more variation in local support, but it does not provide model statistics. The results therefore establish reported relationships, not the size of a causal effect.
Trust patterns differed by voting intention. Respondents without AfD voting intention more often named science and environmental organizations as trustworthy. Respondents intending to vote AfD showed lower trust in institutional actors overall and more often preferred binding procedures such as referendums. Political actors and wind companies were generally named less often as trusted information sources.
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What residents wanted to know before construction
Information needs were shared across political groups. Before construction, respondents wanted concrete details about:
- Expected noise levels.
- The precise locations of planned turbines.
- Likely effects on nature and the environment.
- Measures intended to protect residents and the environment.
The commonality of these questions suggests that project-specific information is relevant across political groups, even where trust in the messenger or preferred way to resolve disagreement differs.
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Implications for planning and public engagement
RIFS recommends that engagement not be designed solely around whether a site is urban or rural. Its summary points instead to transparent siting, early opportunities for public involvement, clearly defined local benefits, and credible information from sources residents regard as independent. It also recommends combining in-person events with digital formats: face-to-face events were valued across the studied groups, while openness to digital or visualization-based engagement varied more.
These are planning recommendations informed by the reported findings, not guaranteed ways to secure acceptance. Radtke’s guidance is that “A fair process cannot be reduced to a single instrument.” Financial participation may be one component, the summary says, but should sit within a wider credible process rather than substitute for transparent decisions or meaningful participation. Radtke also argues that acceptance concerns should be addressed before conflict arises, through clear rules, credible information, and fair opportunities to take part.
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What the findings do—and do not—establish
The published RIFS summary reports a representative survey in one German state and associations between attitudes, political orientation, institutional trust, and perceptions of procedure. It does not establish that these factors caused a respondent’s position. The summary does not give the survey dates, exact question wording, subgroup sizes, response rate, coefficients, confidence intervals, model fit, or full questionnaire. The scale comparison and survey size are the specific figures reported there; broader claims about other places or projects would need separate evidence.
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