Worldwide, in many countries the transformation of energy supply towards renewable sources has become a topic of superior political concern. This transformation is expected to require a great many of new technical infrastructures, including wind parks, solar farms, energy tracks or reservoirs for energy storage. Many of these projects, like energy tracks from North Sea offshore wind parks to the south, are pressed for time. Nevertheless, these ambitious projects have to respect democratic rights of information, participation and legal objection.
Against this background, the search for innovative forms of conflict resolutions in planning and implementing big renewable energy projects (Susskind 2009, Ziekow 2012) has become prominent. The paper deals with basic characteristics of renewable energies respectively climate change that are of relevance for conflict resolution. As it is the case for many big in-frastructures, renewable energy projects are characterized by a high degree of complexity increasing potential interdependencies, impacts, interests or actors. Furthermore the relevance and impact of climate change as causal background of the energy transformation are again and again questioned as uncertain which counteracts transformation strategies and projects. In addition, impacts of climate change become do not become noticeable before far in the future which is at conflict with nowadays cost-benefit calculations in politics.
The paper discusses these characteristics with regard to strategies of conflict resolution and reflects on challenges, restrictions and possible solutions. Therefore, it takes into account scientific discourses on infrastructure planning regarding complexity, uncertainty and social acceptance (Priemus 2007, Wolsink 2007, Marshall 2012, Salet et al 2012). The empiric basis is case studies of infrastructure planning in Germany, in particular on energy tracks.
