Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) is increasingly positioned as a pathway to enhance energy security and reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels for remote coastal and island communities. However, as with more established onshore renewable energy technologies, strong national support for MRE does not always translate into local acceptance. For emerging wave and tidal energy technologies, research and investment have prioritised technological design, resource characterisation and environmental impact assessment, while the social dimensions of MRE developments remain understudied, particularly within small island contexts. Legal and policy frameworks for community engagement are often poorly adapted to ocean energy projects and provide little guidance on how to achieve meaningful engagement and true community empowerment in practice. Responding to growing calls for research, this thesis critically examines the social dimensions of MRE planning and decision-making. Adopting a case study approach, I undertook semi-structured interviews with community members and energy stakeholders, ethnography, and archival analysis in Alderney, Channel Islands. This research found that perceived technological infancy, prolonged development timelines and engagement fatigue have contributed to community scepticism towards tidal energy. Undertaking post-engagement evaluation of previously proposed tidal energy-related projects identified perceptions of procedural and distributive unfairness, leading to a legacy of community mistrust towards the projects, energy decision makers and broader local decision-making processes. I propose that achieving genuine empowerment and participatory justice requires a place-based approach that is grounded in local knowledge, whilst recognising and addressing the social dynamics that shape intrinsic motivations to engage and whose voice influences decision-making. For example, formal and informal structures of power. I emphasise the importance of the engagement facilitator in shaping engagement processes and community perceptions and propose a multi-role facilitation model that integrates technical expertise, local contextual knowledge, and independent facilitation. This three-role approach supports equitable engagement and avoids reinforcing power imbalances. Overall, my thesis contributes to debates on community empowerment in energy transitions and provides learnings for other small island communities navigating the social complexities of MRE developments.
| Date of Award | 4 Mar 2026 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Vicki Trowler (Main Supervisor) & Thomas Smyth (Co-Supervisor) |
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