The vast majority of the Scottish public strongly approve or tend to approve of offshore wind farms, according to research published by the country’s government.
The research found 92% of respondents think the renewable energy sector is important to Scotland in terms of its social value, while 89% think the sector is important to Scotland in terms of its economic value.
In addition, 43% of coastal respondents are aware of an offshore wind farm near to where they live, compared to 24% of national respondents.
Four in five (80%) of national respondents and 83% of coastal respondents either strongly approve or tend to approve of offshore wind farms.
The research found that perceived attitudes to offshore wind farms have not changed significantly over time.
Around 85% of coastal respondents reported in the survey that they have always had the same opinion of offshore wind farms, while the same is true for 80% of national respondents.
A quarter of lived experience respondents think that offshore wind farms have had a positive impact on their quality of life, while 4% think the opposite.
Furthermore, two-thirds (66%) of lived experience respondents think the development provides a boost for the local economy.
However, the research found that a significant minority of lived experience respondents have some negative attitudes towards offshore wind farms even if their attitudes are broadly positive overall.
This includes around a third (34%) who think that offshore wind farms detract from the traditional image of the coast.
Both national and coastal respondents said they were unconcerned about visiting or holidaying in areas where there are offshore wind farms.
For example, four in five (81%) say that if they could see an offshore wind farm while on holiday it would make no difference to their choice of destination.
Scottish Renewables senior policy manager Charlotte Stamper said: “It’s encouraging to see from today’s report that the vast majority of respondents recognise the social and economic importance of Scotland’s offshore wind farm developments, particularly those in coastal communities who will be the very people who will benefit most tangibly from these projects.
“Offshore wind is about to transform our coastlines with 17 new projects from Islay to the Border delivering capacity of up to 25GW and bringing between £20-30 billion of investment in coming decades.
“The benefits to Scottish communities will be transformational: these projects have committed to invest in Scotland – and specifically in supply chain businesses – on a scale never seen before, in any industry.
“This investment will allow Scottish firms to compete in the global offshore wind market, deliver tens of thousands of skilled jobs and revitalise communities which currently rely on seasonal tourism.”