People's opinion about wind power stations in rural areas: Case study in Aydın

The demand for energy in the world increases day by day. Because of the environmental damage and limited scale of fossil fuels, countries begin to supply their energy requirements from renewable energy sources and invest in renewable energy technologies. One of the alternative renewable energy sources is wind energy. In this study, we undescore the people's opinion who live around the wind power stations in Aydın. In this context, we conduct a survey face to face with 118 people living around turbines and present the survey results in this study. The individuals are conscious of environmental damage of fossil fuels and aware of the advantages of renewable energy sources. On the other hand, individuals have some drawback about wind power stations. Especially, they are uncomfortable from the noise emitted by wind turbines in the summer months when they live in mountain houses. Besides, individuals are in aggrement that having an exchange of ideas with locals during the setup and operation stages of wind power stations will strengthen the acceptance of the project by local community. Participants give countenance to renewable energy sources and technologies in general and display positive attitude. The raise in installation and commissioning of renewable energy stations will create employment area in rural areas and provide economic development.