Abstract
Climate neutrality is a central goal of the European Green Deal (European Commission, 2019), however, societal opposition has the potential to significantly impede the realisation of the infrastructure required for this decarbonisation (Cohen et al., 2014). Such is the significance of the changes required to the energy system needed for the envisaged decarbonisation, that the required deployment of renewable energy infrastructure will not be possible without societal buy-in of some degree. This means that the realisation of the potential for marine renewable energy (MRE), will require the social acceptance (and moreover the social acceptability ) for the deployment of installations such as such as wave energy (WE).
Almost everything about the deployment of commercial devices to harvest wave and tidal energy is new. The technologies are new and devices are still largely under development. The potential scale of occupation of marine space (together with offshore wind developments) in nearshore and offshore locations is unprecedented. As a result, public knowledge of wave energy technologies may be limited. However, a lack of knowledge or access to information does not mean that individuals will not form opinions or attitudes towards this technology. Walker (1995) highlighted two decades ago that we must not underestimate “what the public thinks” and how attitudes are formed, changed and developed concerning the adoption of renewable energy technologies. In the case of WE, it is especially important that policy makers and practitioners are cognisant of the depth of knowledge and understanding regarding the technology and adopt appropriate tools for engaging the public in its development (Chozas et al., 2010).