The Role of Societal Acceptance in Renewable Energy Innovations ́ Breakthrough in the Case of Deep Geothermal Technology

The objective of increasing the share of renewable energy is high on the policy agenda in countries around the world. Although, the current understanding of social processes affecting the societal (non-)acceptance of innovative renewable energy technologies is rather limited. The issue of societal acceptance needs to be urgently addressed to support the knowledge among the key actors in the planning and implementation procedures to develop succesful diffusion strategies. Societal acceptance in its three key dimensions (1) socio-political acceptance; (2) community acceptance and (3) market acceptance (Wüstenhagen 2007) is a complex interplay between different social processes. Although deep geothermal technology seems to have a high potential for sustainable energy generation in the long-term, especially the short term effects like induced seismicity and failures in communication may create anxieties and opposition among the directely and indirectely affected people that could hinder the further development and diffusion of this technology. How to understand, deal and communicate the risks and benefits of deep geothermal technology in society and how to overcome barriers to its societal acceptance? Within a three years public-private PhD project (2009-2011) the main processes, key actors and key structures that create or hinder societal acceptance of deep geothermal technology will be surveyed. A main focus is currently laid on the specific socio-cultural and socio-economic conditions of the target regions in Germany and relevant neighbour regions. In this paper, the development and the potential of the societal acceptance approach will be reviewed with the aim to design a comprehensive framework for the case of deep geothermal technology. We take a look at today ́s state of societal acceptance of deep geothermal technology in the target region outlining the main barriers currently identified and introducing specific aspects of three geothermal projects in the cross-region France-Switzerland-Germany. Finally, we draw first conclusions about the development of future improvement strategies and finish with a methodological outlook.