Will the introduction of a resource rent tax lead to development of more wind power? - A study of the effects of the new resource rent tax on Norwegian municipalities’ acceptance for land-based wind power
Master thesis
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https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3077218Utgivelsesdato
2023Metadata
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- Master's theses (HH) [1072]
Sammendrag
The amount of energy produced by land-based wind power in Norway has increasedsignificantly the last couple of years. Despite this, estimates from NVE show that Norway couldhave an energy deficit by 2027. Thus, the country is in need for more renewable energy.However, the development of land-based wind power has met great resistance, especially inrelation with the publication of the National Framework for Land-Based Wind Power reportfrom NVE. Following massive complaints from municipalities and others, the report waswithdrawn in 2019, and the attitude among the municipalities have been negative since. Hence,a resource rent tax has been proposed on the Norwegian land-based wind power sector, in orderto make land-based wind power more attractive among Norwegian municipalities.The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if the proposed resource rent tax on land-based windpower will change Norwegian municipalities’ acceptance for land-based wind power withintheir municipality. The tax proposal states a resource rent tax with an effective tax rate of 40%,and it is estimated to generate around NOK 2,5 billion in 2023, where 50% of the revenues isgoing to the municipalities. The research question is answered mainly through a qualitativemethod, consisting of semi-structured interviews with 17 Norwegian municipalities, both withand without existing land-based wind power. The interviews both provided qualitative andquantitative data that were analysed.The results show that the current proposal for a resource rent tax has a slightly positive effectfor municipalities with a weak economy, and municipalities which put a lower value on theirlocal nature. However, the general findings are that the revenues from the resource rent tax areregarded as too low to have an influence on the general acceptance towards land-based windpower. Still, the results indicate that economic compensation in general is an importantargument for municipalities to be more positive towards land-based wind power.My recommendation is that the authorities should look into alternatives to the proposedresource rent tax scheme, especially at the allocation of the tax revenues among themunicipalities. The tax revenues should be distributed in such a way that the host municipalitiesfeel that they receive a compensation which corresponds to the negative effects that wind powerentails. By doing this, municipalities are inclined to be more positive towards futuredevelopment of land-based wind power in Norway.