People?s opinion about wind power plants in rural areas: Case study in Hatay

The demand of electricity in Turkey grows everyday. Turkey has to import electric energy from outside or use renewable energy resources. Turkey has plenty of renewable energy resources which are still not utilized. Wind energy is one of those alternative energy resources which help development in Turkey. People?s participation in renewable energy resources is important for success. Fort his reason, in this research, people?s opinions about wind power plants in Hatay was examined. In Belen and Samandağ provinces face to face interviews were conducted to collect data from 130 people. Majority of respondents were agreed that wind energy is important to reduce dependence on foreign energy sources and economic activity in the community. But people are somewhat concern about potential for killing birds, potential for killing bats and interfere with radar signals. It is found out that, most people had a positive attitude about wind energy and support to built wind power plants in their community. And almost 50 percent of participants were willing to pay more for wind energy.