Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 2840: Evaluation of Co-Existence Options of Marine Renewable Energy Projects in Japan (Sustainability)

Consensus building among local stakeholders is vital for the success of the proposed initial commercial marine renewable energy (MRE) projects in Japan. Even though the literature on stakeholder acceptance highlights the importance of creating local benefits and co-creation options, very few studies and almost no empirical data have been published on the application of non-monetary benefit creation schemes in the context of MRE. Hence, the purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the possible co-existence options available for Japan’s MRE projects through data collected from interviews and questionnaire surveys in two development sites in Nagasaki and Kitakyushu in Southern Japan. To overcome the limitations of data unavailability and uncertainty, the Dempster Shafer Analytic Hierarchy Process (DS-AHP) was used for evaluating the best co-existence strategy out of five potential options. The results indicate that local fisheries prefer the oceanographic information sharing option whereas most of the other stakeholders prefer using local resources to construct and operate the power plant, creating business involvement opportunities for the local community. Analysis of stakeholders’ decision behaviors suggests that perceived impacts, knowledge, and values influence the preference decision. In addition to the validation of stakeholder preference of the previously proposed co-existence options with empirical data, this study provides a robust method to further evaluate the potential options with the availability of new data.