♨️Exploring Planning Support Systems For Geothermal Resources In Enschede, The Netherlands

🚨Problem

Energy transition is a super wicked problem characterised by complex socioeconomic, technological and cultural considerations. Lack of community engagement contributes to low social acceptance and slow adoption of renewable energy projects, especially in subsurface developments, where public acceptability in the Netherlands is lowered following Groningen gasquakes. Participatory planning could mitigate local resistance to renewable energy development and, thus, could be valuable for the realisation of geothermal projects.

🎯Aims

Understand the potential contribution of geospatial collaborative tools for geothermal resource planning by constructing a preliminary design of a planning support system (PSS) to support participatory planning.

To identify a conceptual design of PSS tools dedicated to supporting renewable energy planning needs to be composed of to meet stakeholder needs.
To propose design attributes and characteristics describing the PSS criteria for geothermal energy planning.

🛠️ Approach

Systematic literature review to synthesise the state-of-the-art knowledge and technologies in the field of planning support systems for renewable and geothermal energy strategies.
Semi-structured interview to understand the values, needs, and concerns of stakeholders to be included in planning procedures.
Design science research to combine problem space knowledge and solution space knowledge for designing the PSS artefact.

✅Success

Research studies describing PSS applied for renewable energy planning are mostly in the Netherlands, but none for geothermal resource planning.
Inductive thematic analysis identifies challenges, constraints and the goals and features of information collaborative systems for supporting urban infrastructure planning.
Design knowledge with Agile user stories establishes user requirements of a PSS tool conceptualisation for geothermal energy planning.

🪞 Reflection

Designing a renewable PSS is challenging and fuzzy ➡️ Conceptual and methodological discourse is valuable to foster renewable energy planning problems and the PSS solution artefact.
Design science research project emphasises iterative build-evaluation cycles ➡️ Feedback path of refinement to improve PSS in taming the wickedness of renewable energy planning.
Comprehensive view of users’ requirements and needs ➡️ Engage the heat consumers or end users in the PSS design process.
Citizen participation to build public trust in geothermal development ➡️ Designing a PSS that involves citizens for the participatory planning process.