However, establishment of community renewable energy projects has been unsystematic in the UK and for this to become
a more widespread mode of renewable energy development better understanding of public attitudes towards it is required. To date there has been little empirical investigation in this area and it is important to learn how and why potential participants envisage taking on the role of participant in a community renewable energy project. This study attempted to address these issues through an in-depth case study of one community’s response to
proposals for a local sustainable energy project. This practical approach, of exploring possibilities for behaviour change directly with members of the public has been advocated by Stern (2000) to enable promising strategies to be identified before formally testing them. In addition, case study is appropriate for researching complex social phenomena, which are highly context dependent (Stake, 1995). Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to assess the response of the case study community to broad initial proposals for a community sustainable energy project. The main aim was to explore social factors which could affect development of a potential project and the scope for residents’ participation. Key questions considered were: