Panel:
Environmental impact assessments – the law
The following issues will be of interest in the “Environmental Impact Assessments – The Law” panel:
- Interpretation of provisions of the Act on the disclosure of information concerning the environment and its protection, public participation in environmental protection and environmental impact assessments,
- Presentation of practical procedures applicable to wind farm investments – a case study,
- Presentation of environmental impact assessment procedures for wind farms in other countries.
Below we present only some potential subjects that may be developed and proposed during the Call for Abstracts:
| • | Environmental Impact Assessments – solutions in Poland and other EU Member States |
| • | Environmental Impact Assessment – a case study (an example of absurd provisions) |
| • | Decommissioning of an operating wind farm in the case of negative results of investment monitoring |
Panel:
Environmental impact of wind power
The “Environmental Impact of Wind Power” panel will be dedicated to potential environmental impact of wind power, in particular on birds, bats, landscape and insofar as noise or infra-sounds emission.
Participants to the Call for Abstracts are welcome to present results of monitoring of investments’ effects on birds and bats. It would be interesting to receive abstracts discussing measures to minimise and compensate potential environmental effects of wind power, presenting the scope of application and effectiveness, as well as discussing good practices for wind farm design and siting.
Below we present only some potential subjects that may be developed and proposed during the Call for Abstracts:
| • | Wind power - the leading sponsor of avian fauna and bat studies in Poland |
| • | The most frequent errors in making an Environmental Impact Assessment of a wind farm |
| • | Methodology for wind power noise analysis. |
| • | Do wind turbines generate infra-sounds? |
| • | The effect of infra-sounds on human health. |
| • | Myths insofar as environmental impact of wind power. |
| • | Examples of minimization and compensation of environmental impact of wind power. |
Panel:
Social awareness and acceptance
The concept of “learning economy” means considering an investment as a learning process – of partners and stakeholders, in particular the local community. This is an emphasis on educational and psychological factors; a comparison between countries and regions; a forecast of trends; the promotion of the investment in terms of benefits for the region’s inhabitants. Therefore we propose to develop abstracts discussing the following issues:
| • | Myths, beliefs and stereotypes concerning wind farms in the opinion of adult inhabitants of towns located in the vicinity of wind farms in Poland |
| • | Wind farms are evil machines erected by thieves to kill people and animals – the cognitive dissonance issue and how to deal with it upon the social consultations phase |
| • | The effects of the Global Wind Day on social awareness and acceptance |
| • | Differentiation of factors affecting human health. |
| • | Campaigns and programmes to boost social awareness in EU countries and in Poland. |
| • | International, national and local educational campaigns. |
| • | Educational programmes implemented under the PWEA’s “Wind Day” campaign. |
| • | Educational publications. |
| • | Educational programmes addressed to children and youth. |
| • | Local communities’ knowledge concerning wind power – fears and myths on the basis of original research. |
| • | A report from research carried out on inhabitants of towns located in the vicinity of wind farms. |
| • | Changes to opinions concerning the harmfulness of wind farms. |
Panel:
The role of local governments in wind power development
The abstracts should present the role of different ranks of local governments in wind power development in Poland. It is imperative to present the cooperation between local government and central administration insofar as development of the National Action Plan. It would be very interesting to have an abstract discussing the proposals for including local government’s action plans in the National Action Plan.
Furthermore, it would be very interesting to present good practices in cooperation between the commune and the investor, with particular regard to the methodology for solving conflicts arising out of implementation of a wind farm project and optimisation of the use of regional resources and communal/regional infrastructure for the benefit of wind power. It would be valuable to present the results of investment attractiveness of particular provinces, for instance in terms of technical potential, progress with spatial development of grid infrastructure or power engineering-friendly local authorities.
Below we present only some potential subjects that may be developed and proposed during the Call for Abstracts:
| • | The role of wind power in own tasks of different ranks of local governments; the role of local authorities in implementation of the National Action Plan. |
| • | The experience of municipalities in the implementation of wind energy on the example of Kisielice. Opportunities and barriers. |
| • | Real property tax – is the current legislation sufficient? |
| • | Investment attractiveness of provinces and communes insofar as wind power; action to encourage investors and investment. |
