Blowing in the wind: The socialization of offshore wind technology

• Main Author: Heidenreich, Sara
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English

The development of renewable energy technologies is a widely acknowledged strategy to address climate change. However, for a successful implementation of technology, socialization, i.e. embedding the technology into society, is crucial. This thesis deals with the socialization of the emerging offshore wind technology in Norway. In particular, it focuses on two potential agents of socialization, news media and scientists. The first paper, Dingpolitik at Sea: Offshore wind energy in the news media discourse, focuses on news media as socialization agents. Siting renewable energy offshore is often considered a solution to implementation problems onshore, as it is “out of sight, out of mind”. By analyzing the Norwegian news media discourse on offshore wind energy, this paper investigates whether moving wind turbines at sea really prevents controversy. It finds that although media coverage is largely positive, still, offshore wind energy is contested mainly within economic, environmental and moral frameworks. Further, values and concerns rather than facts are contested in the media debate, while the technology, in its physical form, is blackboxed. The second paper, Sublime technology and object of fear: Offshore wind scientists assessing publics, and the third paper, Outreaching, outsourcing, and disembedding: How offshore wind scientists consider their engagement with the public, address offshore wind scientists as socialization agents. They study the scientists’ imaginings of the public(s) and their socialization strategies. The findings indicate that the scientists construct ambivalent narratives about the public(s). The continued presence of narratives of a negative public in the context of a technology that is supposed to be “out of sight, out of mind,” could be understood as an act of othering the public. Moreover, most scientists did not embrace their role as agents of socialization. Rather, the strategies of outsourcing the socialization to other actors and of disembedded technology development, i.e. declaring socialization unnecessary, are common. The thesis highlights the important role of the media both as agent of and arena for socialization. Furthermore, considering the hesitance among scientists to act as agents of socialization, it suggests that other actors may be more suitable agents of socialization. It also points to the significance of the “out of sight, out of mind” motive which is used to construct socialization as irrelevant and disembed t